Caves of the Ancients
by JudasFm
Summary: COMPLETED! The sequel to Secrets of the Emeralds. After getting disturbing visions of Tails being held captive, both Knuckles and Sonic set out to save him, though they have no idea where to find him and time is fast running out. Please R&R!
1. Fox in a Jewel

**Disclaimer: If it exists in Sega creations, it ain't mine. Everything else is.**

**Author's Note: This story follows directly on from the events in my fic _Secrets of the Emeralds._ If you haven't read that one yet, one or two (or nine or ten) things may not make complete sense. Just FYI ;)**

_Guardian's Log no. 11471_

_So I'm finally back after that whole Robotnik fiasco. Sonic's healed up and almost back to his old self. Unfortunately, he came after Tails had left to look for him, so Sonic's now gone to look for Tails looking for Sonic. I think we can all see how that scenario's going to pan out._

_In a way, I admire the kid's loyalty; the hedgehog treated him like dirt, and yet Tails still wants to stick by him. Anyway, he's been gone two months now, which means Angel Island is finally mine again! No more insatiably curious two-tailed fox with his endless stream of questions, no more of his building killer machines that nearly blow innocent bystanders up and no more of his snoring either._

_I sure do miss the little guy._

_--Knuckles the Echidna_

_My Memoirs by Me_

_Forget everything I wrote about Knuckles earlier in this journal (especially the entries I had to write in my own blood – YEESH!) Knuckles is the best, smartest, coolest, spiniest gliding rock-smashing red echidna-ish (echidnese?) Guardian of the Master Emerald ever in the whole history of Angel Island! In the whole history of Mobius! Oh man, I'm on such a high I'm babbling almost as much as Tails but I can't help it!_

_Bottom line; Knux used the Master Emerald to heal me! I can walk again! I can RUN again! I can run and jump and race and somersault and do everything I did before I fell off the rail that day! I'd hug Knux if I didn't think he'd go all stiff and embarrassed on me!_

_Now I just gotta find Tails. I hope he's okay, wherever he is. I acted like...well, I was a jerk, full stop. I don't blame him for seeking sanctuary with Knuckles, but apparently now he's gone looking for me. He found me before I got here, but...well, let's not go into that here. Not if it's gonna spoil my good mood._

_Ohboyohboyohboy! I can run again! I. Can. RUN!_

_--Sonic the Hedgehog_

_Dear Diary_

_I wish I'd never left Angel Island. So much for getting back on an even footing with Sonic; I know he's probably still miserable about being crippled, but I don't see why he has to take it out on me! Well, if he really wants me to leave him alone, he's got it! He can stay that way forever as far as I'm concerned!_

_Got a note from some of the kids in Emerald Hill Zone asking if I wanted to hang out with them. I think I will; we can catch up on old times before I go back to the Island._

_--Tails_

Knuckles stretched leisurely and glanced around at Tails before remembering that the kid wasn't there anymore.

The echidna shook his head. He was, to his utter amazement, missing the fox. After a few months of having Tails by his side, chattering and constantly firing questions at the echidna (they'd had a very informative discussion about babies not so long ago, and Knuckles had wished fervently that Sonic had been the one handling _that_ particular topic!) the silence was dull.

Growling in frustration, Knuckles snatched up a rock and hurled it at a pella tree, knocking a ripe fruit to the ground where it promptly exploded.

Thinking of Sonic drew the echidna's mind back to the time when he'd healed the hedgehog. It had taken several weeks before Sonic had become confident in his newly-healed body – the sensation of his feet catching fire and being literally ripped apart under the extreme friction when he'd been forced to run wasn't one he was all that keen to repeat – and another few days for him to get back to his old, cocky self, albeit a cockiness that was tempered with something else now. You could talk to him, and you'd never know that anything had happened, but suddenly his voice would tail off and his eyes would cloud over and it was obvious he was reliving one or other of the tortures he'd suffered at the hands of Robotnik. In the end, Sonic had gone to look for Tails (who was in turn looking for Sonic, and Knuckles privately thought that they'd go round and round in circles before actually finding each other) and left the echidna alone. Knuckles had spent every hour of every day up at the Master Emerald; he'd drained it of a vast amount of power to restore Sonic to full health, and Angel Island had dropped until it was almost touching the surface of the water. It was rising again, but painfully slowly, and Knuckles was just incredibly grateful that it had been over the ocean, where nobody could see it.

He reached out to caress the vast jewel protectively, then drew his hand back as a white light flared inside. The echidna knew the light well; it only ever appeared just before the Master Emerald displayed something, something important. Good. If it was showing him visions, then the power was out of the critical stage.

As he watched, the light faded and a figure appeared in its place, a beaten and bedraggled figure in chains.

"What..." Knuckles started forward, staring. "_Tails_?"

The fox's fur was patched auburn, and Knuckles realised with a sickening lurch in his belly that the auburn patches were where Tails' fur had been stained with blood, most likely his own.

"Knuckles." Tails' voice was distant and echoey, as though Knuckles was hearing it underwater and a long way off at that. "Knuckles, please, help me, I can't get out."

"Tails, where are you? What happened?"

"I can't get out, Knuckles, where are you?" The fox's mouth never moved; he seemed to be communicating telepathically. That could account for the ethereal quality in his voice, Knuckles thought, although not the slight quiver. Although he'd never heard it in his life before, the echidna recognised the sound; it was the quiver of someone who had sobbed themselves raw.

"I'm here!" Knuckles circled the Master Emerald frantically, as though he could somehow persuade it to open up and let him in. "I'm here, kid, where are you?"

"Knuckles, help me."

"I will!" Knuckles stopped moving and stared at Tails' image. "Just tell me where the hell you are!"

"Knuckles, please, I can't get out."

"Tails, where _are_ you?" Frustrated, Knuckles resumed circling, running a hand over the Master Emerald.

Tails vanished.

"No." Knuckles stared at the Master Emerald as though he could will the fox back. "_No_!"

There was a whisper on the air, just on the cusp of hearing, so faint that Knuckles wasn't sure if he'd imagined it.

"Please...help me."

The echidna slammed both fists down onto the Master Emerald.

"_Tails_!"

**Okay, so it's short and sweet ;) But it's only the beginning. If you read this, please review :D**


	2. Dreams and Visions

**Saffra: Heh...thanks. Like I said, I tend to write chunks and paragraphs in advance so when the time comes I can just cut'n'paste ;)**

**Ryopon: Okay, I'm writing, I'm writing (cowers from awesome kitsune powers) (_Knuckles: You have no pride, do you?_)**

**Kdizz: Heh heh. Alright, where would you like me to have left it:P Admittedly not the most intense or suspenseful of cliffhangers, but hey, it's early days yet ;)**

**FriedBrickWall: Okay, I'll do my best! (_Knuckles: Great. A wild goose chase. Why do I let myself get roped into these things?_) Knux, stop whining; you know you like Tails really. (_Knuckles: Hmph!_)**

**Matri90: Thanks, I will ;)**

**Samantha27: (laughs) Yep, I can turn things out pretty fast when I need to ;) Anyway, this idea's been burning in my brain for ages now, so I was glad to get it out ;) Glad you're enjoying it :P**

**Ri2: Why indeed? (_Knuckles: See? I told you it wasn't just me!_)**

**PyroHedgehog4Ever: Aha...suspense, suspense, the toolbox of the trade. At least, my trade...**

**BlueCheetah: (blushes) Thanks. And...yeah, the first chapter is usually short ;) Besides, it was a good cliffhanger to leave it on...I couldn't resist ;)**

**Toboe16: (blushes again) Thanks, I hope so :)**

**TC Chan: I know. I am evil indeed. And if you really wanna read about that particular conversation between Knuckles and Tails...reading your review I had to go off and write that conversation, so maybe I can slot it in somewhere ;)**

_Guardian's Log no. 11472_

_What was that all about? Tails isn't the kind of guy who asks for help, at least, not like that. Is it some kind of trick? But how...no. No, the Master Emerald can't lie. It's Tails. The question is, where is he?_

_Actually, the question is how the hell can I get him out, but I'm working up to that. Tails...if something's happened to that kid, whoever's responsible is going to wish they'd never laid eyes on him when I catch them._

_The only problem is, I have no idea where Tails is. I wish I did. I really wish I did, but the only way I'll know is if he tells me in one of those visions. Part of me wants another one, but the other part of me doesn't want to see him like that. I don't know enough people on Mobius to ask either._

_Man, there's never a hyperactive blue hedgehog around when you need one!_

_--Knuckles the Echidna_

_My Memoirs by Me_

_"If you're gonna keep being such an ungrateful jerk, then you can go to hell! I'll go stay with Knuckles for a bit; at least he can be bothered to look out for me! He was right; you've changed. You've changed from a hero who kept laughing no matter what people said or did to him into a sad, pathetic, bitter freight marn!"_

_That's the last thing Tails said to me. I'm not too sure about the freight marn bit, but it sure sounded that way. That was before Knuckles healed me and I've not seen the kid since. I thought he was with Knuckles, but now...after the dreams I've been having, I'm not so sure._

_I'm heading back to Angel Island. Maybe Knux can help shed some light on this._

_--Sonic the Hedgehog_

The image of Tails stayed with the echidna for the rest of the day, and was there when something woke him in the middle of the night as well. Damn, where _was_ the kid? More's to the point, what the hell had happened to him?

Knuckles had been surprised and more than a little disturbed to realise just how important Tails had become to him. His conduct at the shrine...Knuckles had never even _sneezed_ on the Master Emerald before, let alone struck it. Yet one glimpse of Tails supposedly in trouble, and everything else went by the board.

He sighed. Maybe his mother had been right all those years ago; Guardians shouldn't have friends, not if they wanted to discharge their duties adequately.

Hoping that some fresh air would help him to sleep, Knuckles got to his feet and crossed over to the door of his small hut – the winters on Angel Island were too cold at night to sleep out – and opened it. A light breeze blew in, carrying with it the scent of smoke, and the echidna stiffened. Fire? On the Island? Robotnik?

No longer sleepy, Knuckles broke into a jog, following the smell down the path towards a sheltered clearing.

"Knux, hi!" From in the middle of the clearing, stretched out in front of a large campfire, Sonic waved a branch at him. "Wanna marshmallow?"

"No," the echidna said, too surprised to be gracious. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to see you, didn't I?" Sonic yelped as the marshmallow burst into flames, then blew it out hurriedly and took a bite, crunching loudly. "Oh man, I can _never_ get these things done medium rare," Knuckles heard him complain, and refrained from comment. Sonic's culinary skills outside of everything bar chili dogs were the stuff legends – at least, all the ones that dealt with poisoning – were made of. Sonic had tried cooking once on their last journey, and even Tails hadn't been able to find anything complimentary to say about the result, while Knuckles had commented that if he'd wanted to eat charcoal, he'd have ordered it.

"What do you want?" he said.

"Right now, a non-crunchy marshmallow would be favourite, Knuckles-ol'-buddy-ol'-pal. But since I _know_ you wouldn't lower yourself to help out a buddy who's just come all this way and is near _dead_ from _hunger_..." Sonic's voice trailed off to give Knuckles time to contradict him, then when the echidna remained stubbornly silent, he sighed and went on. "That's not all, though."

"I didn't think it could be. You've come a hell of a long way just to make marshmallow briquettes. What do you _really_ want, Sonic?"

Sonic, who had bristled at the mention of _marshmallow briquettes_, hesitated and then sighed again.

"I been having these dreams."

Was it his imagination, or had Knuckles frozen?

"Oh yeah?" the echidna said noncommittally.

Sonic took a deep breath.

"Knuckles, where's Tails? Have you seen him?"

The echidna stared, then slowly shook his head.

"No. I thought he was with you."

"He was, but...he left. I was fine for a couple weeks after that, but like I said, then I started having these dreams. Knux, if he's come to you and asked you to hide him, then fine. I'll respect that and I won't go looking for him, won't even ask you about him. But if he's really here and you're lying to cover for him, at least tell me, set my mind at rest."

Knuckles shook his head again.

"I can't do that, Sonic, because the kid's really not here. If he was, I'd know; nothing comes onto Angel Island without my knowledge." He frowned slightly. "You mentioned dreams, didn't you? What kind?"

Sonic shivered.

"I keep seeing him. He's battered and bloody and in chains and he always says the same thing; _help me, I can't get out_." Sonic dropped his head into his hands. "Before you healed me, Tails and me had a fight; I accused him of pitying me and said if that was all he thought of me now he could piss off and find someone else to idolise. I was dumb, I was over-sensitive and Tails just stared at me, then turned and walked off." He managed a rueful smile. "I don't blame him. I was behaving like an asshole." The smile vanished, leaving a tortured expression. "But damn, Knuckles, if he got into trouble because of that dumb fight...oh hell." He looked up and frowned slightly. "Are you okay? You look a little tense."

That was something of an understatement, as Knuckles was now staring at Sonic with every muscle in his body so tight he was quivering slightly.

"He what?"

Sonic sighed. "Don't chew me out over that, okay Knux? _Please_ don't, because I've been doing that every hour of every day and trust me, there is nothing you can say or do that can make me feel worse than I do right now."

Knuckles shook his head.

"No, it's...Tails really says that?"

"Yeah." Sonic's eyes narrowed slightly. "Why?"

The echidna looked away into the flames.

"I've seen him too. Not in a dream; he always appears in the Master Emerald, and he always says pretty much the same thing; _help me, Knuckles, please help me, I can't get out_."

"Wow." Sonic shifted his weight back, staring openly. "What the hell's going on, Knux?"

Knuckles sighed. He'd had a lot of time to wonder about that, and he thought he'd come up with a possible answer.

"This is just a theory, you understand—" he began.

"Fine," Sonic said immediately. "Theorise."

"I don't think Tails knows he's doing it. I think we're getting a kind of one-way link into his thoughts or maybe his dreams without his being aware of it. Does he call you by name at all?"

Sonic shook his head.

"No, it's always you he wants. That's why I came here; I thought he might be with you or you might have rescued him or something, since he's calling your name and not mine." He smiled sadly. "Can't blame him really."

"Snap out of it," the echidna told him brusquely. "And Tails is just repeating the same thing over and over, which means he can't hear us. He had a Chaos Emerald, maybe that has something to do with it."

Sonic shook his head again.

"If it did, then Robotnik would be getting the same dreams or visions as we are."

"Who's to say he isn't? Then again, maybe Robotnik's the one responsible."

Another shake of the head.

"No, I don't think so. It sounds almost as though the kid's...well..."

Knuckles finished the sentence. "A slave."

Sonic shuddered, looking as though the echidna had just uttered a particularly disgusting swearword. Slaves were not mentioned on Mobius, were not mentionable.

"Yeah, that. And the doc doesn't go in for slavery, at least, not of anything with a pulse. He builds robots for everything he needs; they're usually faster and stronger than your average Mobian, they don't require food or rest, there's no chance of a rebellion and nobody'll bother rescuing machines either."

"But he does sometimes roboticise people."

"Yeah, but I don't think that's what he did to Tails. He didn't do it to me." Sonic shook his head. "Don't you remember what he said back in his fortress? If he got hold of Tails, he'd turn him into a fox fur. I don't think he likes the idea of having someone as smart as him on the loose. No, I think we can cross Robotnik off the list."

Knuckles stared at him hard. "Are you saying that because you believe it, or because you're frightened of winding up in his prison again?"

There was a long, long silence, then Sonic abruptly got up and walked to the edge of the clearing.

"Let me tell you something about fear, Knuckles," he said hoarsely. "You don't know what it's like, not real fear. Real fear is when you're completely and utterly helpless, and you hear someone screaming in pain and all you can do is try and make yourself as inconspicuous as possible and hope like hell that you're not next, knowing that every poor guy who goes up before you is just bringing your tormentors one step closer to you. You just lie completely and utterly still, knowing there's nothing you can do to defend yourself or anyone else, knowing that those terrified and agonised screams are gonna be the last thing you ever hear and praying that they're not your own. Yeah. I'm frightened and I'm not ashamed to admit it either. I still dream about it every single night. I still hear the screams. At least, I did until Tails came into my dreams instead. Given how things are, I'm not sure that's much of a tradeoff, since I now get to wonder if he's going through the same things I did and worse, if he wound up in that because he was upset after that fight we had and wasn't thinking straight. You know what? On the way here, I saw this burning house. People were screaming and racing everywhere and then someone saw me and said...well..."

"Let me guess," Knuckles said succinctly. "Hooray, Sonic's here, he'll save us all?"

The hedgehog glanced over his shoulder at him and his lips twitched. "Well...something like that, yeah. And before, I'd have gone racing in, saved everyone and then gone on my way. This time, I just thought...why? You got a ladder out the back. You got water; hell, they had a stream right next to them! Why should I save you? Save yourselves; I have other things to do. I almost kept on going."

"But you didn't. What are they going to remember about you, Sonic; the fact that you hesitated for a microsecond or the fact that you saved each and every one of them? Hell, they probably all think that you hesitated to think of the best way of saving them all."

Sonic looked away again. "All I'm saying is that you don't get over torture or depression like a cold, Knux. That's like saying you get over a person's death the second the funeral's over. And Tails..."

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. So you had a blazing row with the kid and upset him...again," he couldn't resist adding. Sonic flushed but said nothing. "So now we're both getting these weird dreams or visions and—"

"—we've no idea what they mean." Sonic whirled and started pacing at supersonic speed before skidding to a five-hundred yard stop that blew out the campfire. "Argh! Why can't visions be _explicit_? You know; hey Sonic, go with Knuckles to rescue Tails, he's in the passage under Mt. Faliath, third cave on the right, you can't miss it and watch out for the twenty foot beetle that's guarding him, but it's okay 'cause he's hydrophobic!"

"So are you, which means that wouldn't be much help even if it was true," Knuckles said flatly. He paused. "Do you have any idea where the kid is at _all_?"

Sonic shrugged. "Somewhere with a lot of rock. I get the feeling he's in a cave, but more than one. You know, like a network. There's not just him either; there's a whole bunch of people in the same boat as he is."

Knuckles looked up from where he was trying to relight the fire. "You _saw_ all this?"

"Hell no! I just...well, I dunno how to explain it, Knux. It's like a feeling, you know? A sense. Like I'm inside his head."

"Yeah? So why haven't _I_ got those feelings?" Knuckles was being sarcastic, but Sonic took him seriously, frowning as he considered.

"Maybe because Tails is reaching you through a middle agent; ie, the Master Emerald. With me, it seems to be going right into my head." Sonic thought a little longer. "Or maybe I'm going into Tails'. I can't tell."

"Great." Knuckles hauled himself onto a moss-covered boulder and sat down on it irritably, then grabbed a branch and speared two or three marshmallows and held them in the recovered flames, turning them gently. On the other side, Sonic followed suit. "Well, next time you go into Tails' head or he goes into yours, any chance you could ask him where he is and cut down on a hell of a lot of legwork?"

Sonic's marshmallow burst into flames again and the hedgehog stared at it morosely for a few seconds before blowing it out and crunching it up. Swallowing with an obvious effort, he shook his head.

"Knuckles, has it ever occurred to you that Tails himself may not know where he is? If that's the case, how's he supposed to tell us?"

The echidna grimaced, withdrawing his own perfectly browned marshmallows and chewing on one thoughtfully, ignoring the pleading look Sonic threw him.

"Didn't he say where he was going?"

"Oh sure. He _said_ he was gonna come stay with you for a bit. Why d'you think I came straight here as soon as I got those dreams?"

"Hm." Knuckles considered. "I still say Robotnik's behind this."

"That's what you said about the nothing-void, remember?"

"_You_ said that, Sonic."

"Yeah, exactly, and I was wrong. Besides, like I said, I'm getting the definite feeling that Tails is in a cave. Robotnik's not the camping out sort. He wasn't even before it all went cratt-shaped."

"Well, you oughta know."

Sonic ignored the jibe as he said, "And anyway, like I said, he doesn't enslave living people." Leaning over, he tugged one of Knuckles' marshmallows off the echidna's branch and popped it into his mouth, chewing. "Oh man, that's good. How the hell do you _do_ that? I mean, it's not like you sit around campfires like this on a regular basis."

"Will you stop thinking about food at a time like this! All you seem to do is eat and sleep!"

Sonic snorted, not taking offence. "Hey, for your information, racing at supersonic speeds burns up and therefore requires a hell of a lot of energy! Anyway, don't change the subject, Knux; we're talking about Tails. I know what he said to me, but did he mention anything to you before leaving?"

Knuckles frowned, trying to remember.

"Yeah...he said something about the Emerald Hill Zone."

Sonic blinked.

"He's going back _there_?"

"Yeah. What's wrong with it? Angel Island's passed over it a few times. Nice looking place."

"Tails grew up there, at least until he was big enough to walk out. He didn't have a very happy childhood, Knux."

"No?" Curious now, the echidna leaned back on his hands, extending and crossing his legs at the ankle. "How so?"

Sonic shrugged. "His folks died when he was a very young cub. The other kids used to pick on and make fun of him because he liked building stuff. Then he met me and all that changed, but he'd never have thought about going back to Emerald Hill Zone alone."

Knuckles got to his feet abruptly. "Alright, fine. So we got a starting point. We're practically over the Emerald Hill Zone right now, so there's no harm in looking around and asking. You coming?"

Sonic hesitated, the green eyes clouding over. Knuckles didn't have to ask to know what was going through the hedgehog's mind; the months of torture he'd suffered at the hands of Robotnik would be enough to make anyone hesitate.

"No," Sonic said finally. "No, I'm...no. I can't." He turned away. "Not again," Knuckles heard him mutter and shrugged.

"No? Pity. I'd've paid good money to see that reunion, Sonic."

"You wanna see me back there?"

Knuckles shook his head. "No, I just want to see Robotnik's face when you show up looking like nothing happened."

Sonic paused, and Knuckles was pleased to see him considering the idea. He'd known that would appeal to Sonic; it was a hell of a weight off his mind to know that Robotnik hadn't managed to break the hedgehog entirely.

"Can you fix me?" Sonic said suddenly. "If...you know."

"If he cripples you again?" the echidna said with brutal honesty. "Yeah, if Robotnik messes you up again, I can fix you." Knuckles stressed the word _Robotnik_ ever so slightly, letting the hedgehog know in an oblique way that he wasn't going to pull Sonic's head out of its owner's ribcage every time he got hurt thrill-seeking.

"Or his bots?"

Knuckles stared in disbelief, then laughed.

"C'mon Sonic; when have you ever been in danger from _them_?" He shook his head. "I'm supposed to be the ultra-cautious one, not you."

"You're not the one Robotnik tortured."

"True," Knuckles conceded. Looking at Sonic now, it was almost impossible to believe that once the hedgehog had been crippled, beaten almost to death and utterly defeated. "But maybe you oughta focus less on the negative and more on the positive."

"Like what?" Sonic demanded.

_The Master Emerald's gone insane_, Knuckles thought grimly. _It's put me in a position where I'm actually pleading with Sonic to take risks. _Aloud he said, "Well...for one thing, being tortured made you a virtual recluse for a time, which meant that you didn't have to teach your little brother about the birds and the bees."

Sonic gaped at him for a full minute, then his lips twitched.

"You don't mean—"

"Oh yeah," Knuckles said bitterly. "There I am, eating lunch, perfectly happy and minding my own business and Tails picks that moment to ask me where babies come from."

Sonic fell back, howling with laughter.

"Oh man, I'd have paid good money to hear _that_ particular discussion!" he managed at last, wiping tears from his eyes. "What'd you say?"

"I can't remember," Knuckles lied, who remembered all too well and had even started to see the funny side of parts of it, "but...I...uh, I don't think I made a very good job of it."

Sonic shook his head, still grinning broadly.

"No? C'mon Knux; gimme details! What happened?" He paused. "Given you've never had a girlfriend, how'd _you_ get to know about such things, anyway?"

"My mother wasn't embarrassed to talk about those things, Sonic, and it was a good few years before I even figured out what some of the words meant. By then she was dead."

Sonic whistled softly. "Man, that's rough. How old were you? Three? Four?"

"No, Sonic, that was when my _father_ died. I managed to keep my mother for a couple more years; I was six when she died." Knuckles started towards the path. "C'mon."

"What about the Island?"

"No problem. I parked it here to see if I could spot the kid. It'll stay until I get back."

"Whoa, whoa, _whoa_!" Sonic zipped forward to stand in front of Knuckles. "Back up. You can _park_ this thing? Like a _vehicle_?"

"Yeah. Park, steer, reverse and change altitude."

"_Way_ cool!"

"Sure," Knuckles said flatly. "C'mon Sonic, if you're coming. The sooner we find Tails, the sooner things can get back to _normal_ around here."

"Oh, Knux." Sonic circled the echidna three times before slinging a companionable arm across Knuckles' shoulders. "Knux, Knux, Knux, Knux, _Knux_. Normality is _so_ overrated."

The echidna shot him a dirty look. "Remind me again why I agreed to restore you to your old self, Sonic?"

"'Cause Mobius finds me more lovable that way?"

"Oh dream _on_!"

Sonic pretended to consider. "Hm. Could it be because Knuckles, nowhere-near-omnipotent Guardian of the Master Emerald, actually wanted to do something for someone else?"

"You talking about a two-tailed someone else, perchance?"

"Mm, perhaps, yes, perhaps. You did mention something about doing it for Tails since I'd been such a jerk." Sonic shrugged. "But hey, I'm not proud. I'm on too much of a high to be proud." As though to illustrate the point, he exploded into action again, weaving in and out of the trees.

Knuckles rolled his eyes and kept walking.

**Okay, so that's Chapter Two done (no kidding :P Told you it'd be longer ;)) If you read, please review :D**


	3. Emerald Hill Zone

**Awdures: Glad you liked it ;) Urgency...well, yes, there is, but neither Sonic nor Knuckles are the type to suffer from headless-chicken syndrome, and at the end of the day, neither of them really know what's going on either :P**

**FriedBrickWall: Heh...yeah, it did only happen once, but it also happened pretty recently :P And like Sonic says, you don't get over something like that like a cold ;) (_Sonic: Yeah. Excuse me for not being able to forget it. Maybe someone could tear off your feet and torture you, see how well you deal with the aftermath._) Ignore him; he gets a little irritated whenever anyone reminds him of it ;)**

**BlueCheetah: (grins) I think you're right (_Knuckles: Finally, someone understands me! I'd given up hope_. _Shouldn't it be Ms Goddess, though?_) Knux! Stop criticising the nice reviewer! Sorry about him...he's been a little grumpy lately ;)**

**Saffra: Thanks...glad you enjoyed it :P (_Knuckles: There is nothing wrong with seeing things in a giant shiny rock!_) Don't worry about him. He's being a grouch 'cause he knows what's coming :P (_Sonic: Beg to differ with this; I'm perfectly capable of thinking on my feet. I'm just not good with forward planning._)**

**Ryopon: A Tails chapter...hmm. I hadn't thought about it to be honest...maybe if people want it I'll put one up :)**

**Kj: Heh, I don't think Knuckles is THAT far gone yet :P**

**Matri90: Thanks :)**

**Treasurehunter: Okay, it's continued (glomps back) :P**

_Guardian's Log no. 11473_

_How do I get myself into these situations? Okay, so I really am worried about Tails, but that doesn't change the fact that I seem to have been drafted as Sonic's damn sidekick again! Wasn't once enough?_

_How the hell that guy can have a cookout at a time like this is beyond me! Then again, I suppose he's right; running at those kind of speeds must need a lot of energy. I never thought about that before._

_So we're heading down to the Emerald Hill Zone. Query: is Robotnik responsible for whatever's happened to Tails? Answer: no, I don't think so. What Sonic said made sense; if I could build custom slaves whenever I wanted and to whatever specifications I wanted, I doubt I'd bother with living people either. Which means that somewhere there's a bunch of slaver jerks with a serious problem. Namely me, although they may not realise that yet._

_We took one Chaos Emerald each. Or at least, I took one – the truth Emerald, since I think it might be useful in its own right – and Sonic still has the life force one (not that he knows how to use it). If the visions really are linked to whoever has them, I don't want to miss one; Tails might say something we can use._

_--Knuckles the Echidna_

_My Memoirs by Me_

_Oh man. I didn't know Knuckles was getting the vision/dream as well. This just got a whole lot weirder. What the hell is going on?_

_Tails, wherever you are, hold on. We're coming to get you, just hold on._

_--Sonic the Hedgehog_

"This is Emerald Hill Zone?"

"Yep." Sonic glanced around. "Nice place, huh?"

"I prefer Mushroom Hill Zone, and this place looks so much like Green Hill Zone I don't know why the two Zones don't just merge."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Oh, I get it. You're having your compulsory sulk attack. Well, get on with it quickly, Knux, 'cause we got a lot of work to do." He shook his head. "I thought you lost all that when you hugged Tails."

The echidna's head snapped around. "How do you know I—that is...I mean..." He coughed. "Well, are we gonna sit on our hands all day or are we actually going to start talking to people?"

Sonic grinned, delighted with the success of his little trap.

"We're gonna start talking to people. And stop scowling like that; you'll frighten 'em off."

Knuckles glared at Sonic, then made a conscious effort to relax. Sonic tipped his head on one side.

"Hm. Actually, put the scowl back on, Knux; I never realised what you looked like without it."

"You're a riot, hedgehog."

"I know. Hero in eighty percent of Zones, star comedian in the last twenty. C'mon." Sonic crossed over to an attractive looking cottage and knocked.

The door opened just enough to reveal a suspicious eye.

"Piss off!" the eye's owner barked and slammed the door in Sonic's face.

"Friendly folk, aren't they?" Knuckles commented. Sonic frowned slightly.

"Must be a mistake. Oh man, why couldn't Tails have gone to Green Hill Zone?"

"What's the difference?"

"More grass, more palm trees and a load more streams. Other than that, nothing really. But the people are friendlier." Sonic hammered on the door again. "Hey, open up!"

No answer.

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "This is sad. Stand aside."

"Huh? What're you gonna—_Knuckles, no_!"

"Too late." The echidna swung his fist forward in a blow that not only opened the door but destroyed any chances of ever closing it again, then stepped over the remains. "We want a word with you. Or rather, Sonic wants a word with you and trust me, he's a lot less irritating when he gets his own way."

"I heard that, Knucklehead!" Sonic picked his way into the room, careful not to tread on what remained of the door, then put on his most winning expression. "But he's right, I want to ask you something."

"I'll talk to you but not to _him_!" The house's owner, a gruff looking wombat, turned away from Knuckles pointedly.

"Okay, fine. Knux, wait outside."

"What?" Knuckles stared hard at Sonic. "If you think—"

"Just do it! I'll tell you everything that's said, but if this guy knows anything, saving Tails is a lot more important than saving your pride!" Sonic grabbed hold of Knuckles, spun him around and physically pushed him out the door. Caught off balance, the echidna staggered and only managed to right himself at the last minute by grabbing the outside wall. Humiliated and furious with Sonic, he strode away, not stopping until he reached the outskirts of a forest where he leaned against a tree, arms folded and fingers tapping irritably, watching the house. After ten minutes had gone past, Sonic emerged, looked all around before catching sight of Knuckles and racing over to him.

"Jeez, what're you doing all the way out here?"

"What'd he say?" Knuckles demanded, ignoring the hedgehog's question.

Sonic frowned somewhat quizzically. "Knux, you wouldn't happen to know what Tails meant by a freight marn, would you?"

Knuckles blinked. "What? No. Should I?"

"Apparently he called that guy's kid one, and he called me one as well just before storming off. He was talking about you just before saying it; I wondered if you'd heard it before."

The echidna frowned slightly. "Say it again?"

"Freight marn. At least, that's what it sounded like."

"_Pretman_?" Knuckles suggested.

"That's it! What's it mean?"

The echidna hesitated before saying, "It's...not a compliment, Sonic."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "No kidding, Knucklehead. I kinda figured that out for myself when Tails threw that rock at my head just after saying it. But where's it come from? What's it mean?"

"Literally or figuratively?"

"Both, and quit dancing around the subject!"

Knuckles shrugged. "The nearest translation is _coward_. Literally it means 'frightened male'; the feminine version is _pretmeri_. It's an echidna word; where the hell did you learn it?"

"I told you; Tails used it."

"Then where did Tails learn it?"

"You tell me, Knux! You're the only one who speaks it." Sonic considered. "And you called me one back in Robotnik's fortress, along with several other words I hadn't heard before but don't really want to know about either. You haven't been teaching Tails the echidna language, have you?"

"In the first place, Sonic, if I had it'd be no business of yours and secondly, no, of course I haven't."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't go all stiff and sniffy on me again, Knucklehead. I thought you'd got over that. It was a reasonable enough question." He paused. "Though it would be pretty cool to talk to someone and have them not understand a word of what I was saying."

There was a very careful silence.

"Oh, go on then, say it!" Sonic said. "I mean, I wouldn't want you to burst a vessel or anything!"

Knuckles smirked. "Alright then, I will; you have that effect when you speak in Mobian, never mind Sagayan."

"Thankyou. Sar-what-ian?"

"Echidnese to you, I imagine. What did this guy say?"

"Said Tails did come here after leaving me. He met up with the guy's son, shouted at him, beat him up and called him a freight marn and then marched off."

Knuckles blinked. "That's not like him. Kid's not the type to pick on people. Even if you did upset him, I doubt he'd take it out on the first person he met."

Sonic shrugged. "Hey, I'm with you. I'm just passing on what he said. Tails stormed off into the forest and never came out."

"The storming off bit I can well believe," muttered Knuckles, who had had plenty of experience with Tails' temper.

"Yeah, but you're right; he's not the kind to pick a fight."

Something behind them changed. There was no obvious sound, no movement, and yet somehow the pair of them knew that they were being watched. Slowly, they turned, watching in silence as a group of about seven or eight people appeared from the forest.

"We hear you've been asking questions." The jackal who spoke could only be the leader, Sonic knew. He had the cold, easy arrogance of one who was used to being obeyed.

"I always ask questions," Sonic said, striving to keep his voice calm.

"Not around here. I hear you're after a certain two-tailed freak buddy of yours, is that right?" The jackal smirked. "We could probably help you out, for a price."

Knuckles growled in frustration. "The hell you say!" Shoving Sonic out of the way, he seized the leader and ran him up against a tree. "Tell us what happened to Tails or I swear by the Master Emerald that you will never see another sunrise!"

Sonic stared at the echidna, then at the jackal.

"Better do what he says, kid. Swearing by the Master Emerald isn't a promise he makes lightly, and not one he backs out of either."

The jackal spat on the ground by Knuckles' boot. "You expect me to be frightened of your pet, hedgehog? What he's suggesting would be murder and you know it. So does he, if he's got any sense."

"No, you're not listening to me," Knuckles told him softly. "I said you'd never see another sunrise. As in, losing the ability." To bring the point home, he raised his free hand to eye height and pushed it forward until the spikes were a few inches away from the jackal's eyes.

"We didn't know!" The plea came from off to the left and Knuckles glanced at another, younger jackal. "We didn't know what would happen, mister, swear blind we didn't! Now let him go, _please_! He's done nothing to you!"

"He betrayed my little brother," Sonic said. He knew it, knew it as well as he knew his own name. There was a dangerous note in the hedgehog's voice that Knuckles had never heard before, and one which made the pack squirm nervously. They were used to the idea of Sonic as the hero of Mobius, all-around good guy and freedom fighter. None of them quite knew how to handle the idea of Sonic as an enemy.

"Hedgehogs screw fox freaks now, do they?" the leader sneered.

"What did you say?" Sonic's voice was quiet, almost friendly, but Knuckles wasn't fooled and he didn't think these guys would be either.

"Nothing!" That was the kid again, who seemed to be doing his level best to defuse the situation. "He dint mean it!"

"Oh, I think he did." That was Knuckles, who increased the pressure on the leader's throat until the jackal's breath was rasping loudly in his throat. "And that's not the kinda thing you want to imply about _anyone_, least of all someone like Sonic. But if you tell us where those people took Tails, we'll let you go."

"They took him down that path there towards the Aquatic Ruin Zone!" the other jackal said stridently. Knuckles glanced at him.

"Well, seems like one of you at least has a brain." Releasing the leader, he stepped away. "Aquatic Ruin, huh? C'mon, Sonic. Let's leave these jerks to their sick little games."

Sonic flexed his fingers idly. "I dunno, Knux. Seems to me they know a lot more than they're telling us."

"Agreed, but we're not likely to find out right now and I want to get out of here. This place makes my skin crawl." Knuckles backhanded a gang member stupid enough to try and sneak up behind him, sending him flying and then stalked off down the path, Sonic following reluctantly.

"Not that I don't appreciate haste," the hedgehog said after they'd been going for about half an hour in silence, "but we could've stayed to question them a little more!"

"They wouldn't have answered. Besides, do you want to waste time arguing when we could be looking for Tails? I know I damn well don't."

"They might have lied."

"They looked too dumb to lie. And at least they gave us a destination."

"Which may be the wrong one!"

Knuckles at last stopped walking and turned to stare at Sonic. "Are you saying this because you believe it, or because you just don't want to go to the Aquatic Ruin Zone?"

"Neither!" Sonic said hotly, then, "Well...both, I guess. But I still think that they might've—what's up?"

Knuckles, who had abruptly turned to face back the way they'd come, glanced at him.

"You go on ahead. I want to check something."

"Huh?" Sonic came to stand next to the echidna. "What something?"

"We're being followed."

"Yeah?" Sonic lowered his voice. "Who by?"

"Not sure. We gotta find out somehow."

"Oh well, allow me." Sonic raised his voice again. "It's okay, whoever you are. If you wanna talk to us, go ahead."

There was a faint rustling from one of the bushes and Sonic glanced at it.

"Is that you? C'mon out, we won't hurt you."

"Speak for yourself," Knuckles muttered. "You don't know who they are, Sonic."

"Neither do you, which means you don't have any right to make threats against them."

Knuckles opened his mouth to say he'd threaten whoever he damn well pleased, but at that moment the bushes parted and the young jackal from back in the forest emerged.

"You again?" Knuckles said incredulously. "What do you want _now_? Some more of what you got back there?"

"No!" The jackal backed off, hands held up in front of him. "No, mister, I don't want any trouble! I was jus' lookin' for you guys 'cause I wanted to ask you somethin'!"

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged startled looks.

"Uh...well, you found us," Sonic said eventually, when it became obvious the jackal was waiting for them to break the silence. "What do you want to ask?"

The jackal's mouth opened and closed a few times, but no sound came out. Noticing how he kept casting nervous glances over his shoulder, Sonic added, "You got your friends back there?"

"He better not have," Knuckles said flatly.

The kid shook his head violently. "No, I don't! I jus' wanna ask if I can go with you guys."

There was a stunned silence.

"You're not serious," Knuckles said at the end of it.

"Uh. Yeah." The jackal squirmed under the echidna's piercing stare. "I jus'...well...can I, mister? Please?"

Knuckles turned a look of stunned incredulity on Sonic, who said to the jackal, "What do they call you, kid?"

"Bait."

"Huh?" Now it was Sonic's turn to look stunned. "You serious?"

Bait nodded. "Yeah. It's something Raker came up with. It's what I do too." When the two of them looked perplexed, Bait dropped onto the ground and fixed them both with a huge eyed appealing look. "Please mister, I fell an' hurt my ankle an' can't get up, please can you give me a hand up, please?"

"Let me guess," said Knuckles, who had been caught out like this by Charmy once before. "When the person reaches down, the rest of the pack hit them, mug them and race off, you included."

Bait nodded. "That's pretty much it, mister, yeah."

"So why should we trust you?"

"Ah, c'mon Knux, he's just a kid." Sonic looked at Bait. "Don't mind him. He gets grouchy whenever he's awake."

"He may be just a kid, but he's just a kid who was with those guys who betrayed Tails!"

"Yeah," Bait put in, "so I can lead you to people who can tell you where to find him. C'mon mister, just gimme a chance, that's all I'm asking for."

Knuckles folded his arms and stared at the jackal coldly. "Did you give Tails a chance?"

Bait flattened his ears nervously. "Look, mister, I had nothing to do with what they did to your buddy. Honest I didn't. Raker said it'd be a good laugh, that we'd get enough money to set us up for—"

"You took _money_ for this?" Sonic cut in, his look no longer friendly. "You _sold_ him?"

Bait glanced from one to the other, saw identical expressions of cold anger on both faces and turned to bolt.

"No you don't." Knuckles seized him by the arm, tightly enough so that Bait couldn't pull away without dislocating his own shoulder. "You're not going anywhere, not until you tell us what we want to know."

"Let go, Knuckles," Sonic said quietly. "Let him go, you're hurting him."

"So what? How bad do you think Tails hurting right about now? Dammit, Sonic, you saw the kid just like I did! If this flea-ridden black-backed jerkal had anything to do with it—"

"I didn't!" Now Bait was tugging and twisting, fighting to get out of the echidna's hold. Knuckles didn't tighten it, but he didn't ease up either. "I dint know what they was gonna do! They jus' said they was gonna talk to him. I dint know Raker knew him from before. I jus' thought he was gonna try an' recruit him."

Reaching down, Knuckles pulled out the red Chaos Emerald. Bait's eyes grew huge as he saw it, and he didn't object as Knuckles pressed the fantastic gem against his neck.

"Tell me again that you didn't know what this Raker was planning to do with Tails."

"I didn't! I swear! I tole you I jus' thought the guys was gonna try an' recruit him into their gang, honest!"

Knuckles glanced at the Emerald. No telltale flare appeared inside, which meant that Bait had spoken the truth.

"If you'd known, would you have tried to stop him?"

Bait nodded, almost pathetically eager. "Yeah, mister, course I would!"

The Emerald ignited, blazing with red fire and Knuckles smiled grimly.

"Nice try, kid."

Bait's eyes swivelled slowly around to the Emerald.

"What's that thing? A fancy lie detector?"

Knuckles snorted. "I guess you could say that."

"Yeah?" Bait's face lit up. "How much d'you want for it, mister? Cause Raker'll pay good, in cash or whatever you want."

Sonic sucked in his breath, shooting an amused glance at Knuckles' suddenly motionless form and then chuckling softly. "Kid, you don't know how close you came to losing your head with that remark. Little piece of advice for you. Never, _ever _attempt to buy a Chaos Emerald off Knuckles. If you're very lucky, you _may_ live to regret it."

Bait's eyes grew, if it was possible, even larger. "That's a _Chaos Emerald_?"

Knuckles glared at Sonic. "Nice going."

Bait shook his head. "Don't worry mister. Everyone knows they bring bad luck if you try an' steal one."

"They do?" This was news to Knuckles and one look at Sonic's face told him the hedgehog had never heard this particular rumour either.

"Makes sense, though," Sonic said lightly. "Robotnik's been trying to steal 'em from me for years and look how his luck's been." He considered. "Then again, you stole 'em from me and look how all that turned out."

"Yeah. Maybe there is something to the kid's story after all." Knuckles glanced back at Bait, namely because the jackal had stopped squirming. Looking at him, Knuckles saw the same kind of adulation that he'd seen in Tails' face whenever the fox looked at Sonic, and he groaned.

"You're _that_ Sonic?" Bait said breathlessly.

"How many bright blue hedgehogs with red and white sneakers do you know, kid?" Knuckles said caustically.

"Screw that, how many _Sonics_ do you know?" Sonic demanded. "Cause if you've met another one, they're gonna be getting a seriously pissed off call from my lawyer for copyright infringement!"

"You can't copyright a name, Sonic," Knuckles said wearily. "Even I know that much."

"You can copyright a dream or idea though, and that's what I am to a lot of people, Knux." Sonic grinned to show he wasn't serious. "A vivid, fantastic dream of a better world!"

"Yeah? Well, if you're only a dream, I'd like to wake up now, if that's all the same to you. Or _throw_ up," the echidna added under his breath.

"OooOOOooh!" Sonic folded his arms, still grinning. "Ouch. What's your deal, Knux?"

"My _deal_, as you put it, is that we're no nearer to finding Tails and you're just standing there cracking jokes!"

"So I'm not allowed to have a sense of humour on this rescue mission, is that it? It's not like I'm joking about Tails or his situation, wherever that is."

"I just think you of all people would be a little more concerned and sympathetic towards Tails! Especially after what Robotnik did to you!"

The grin dropped off Sonic's face and he turned away.

"That was low, Knuckles, even for you," he said very quietly.

The echidna shifted his weight. "Maybe it was at that. But it doesn't change the situation, nor the fact that we still haven't decided what to do with this little spy!"

Sonic turned back. "Let him come, if he wants to. He might be useful."

Bait nodded vigorously, aiming the gesture somewhere between Sonic and Knuckles. "Yeah, 'sright mister! I can help you out, just watch me!"

Knuckles glanced at Sonic, who was finding it hard to stifle a grin at the jackal's enthusiasm.

"Okay, fine," Sonic said aloud. "You wanna tag along, you can. And call me Sonic, okay?"

"Okay, mister."

"Sonic!"

"Okay, Mister Sonic."

Knuckles hid a grin as he released Bait and said to Sonic, "I think that's the best you're gonna get."

"It's early days yet," Sonic said pointedly. "What about you?"

Knuckles blinked. "What about me?"

"Aren't you gonna apologise to Bait for holding his arm so tightly?"

"No I'm damn well not!"

Bait, who had looked astounded at Sonic's demand, shook his head. "It's okay, mister, honest. It doesn't matter, I been grabbed rougher than that lotsa times."

"That doesn't matter. It's the principle of the thing." Sonic folded his arms and stared at Knuckles. "I'm waiting, Knucklehead."

"I hope you enjoy it then, because you're gonna be waiting a long time." Knuckles shook his head. "Say what you like, Sonic. This kid had a hand in whatever happened to Tails. Why shouldn't he do the same thing to us?"

"Good question, particularly if you keep acting this way!" Sonic shook his head. "What's come over you, Knuckles? You've always been a jerk ever since I've known you, but I never had you down as a bully."

"I'm not," Knuckles said tightly. "I'm a realist. Unlike you, Sonic, I'm not gonna hold off on someone who cold-bloodedly _sold_ one of my friends just because he's still wet behind the ears. You want this kid to come, fine, he can come, but he's _your_ responsibility! You feed him, water him, occupy him and if he does the dirty on us and tries to do what he did to poor Tails, I swear by my own eyes that I'll kill him myself!"

Sonic glanced at Bait and quirked an eye ridge. "You better be genuine, kid. Knucklehead takes all his oaths extremely seriously, and I happen to know that he's very fond of his eyes."

Bait shifted his gaze down at his sneakers.

"Just gimme a chance, mister. I won't letcha down, promise."

Sonic looked at Knuckles. "What do you think, Knux?"

"I already told you what I think. He'd sell us out as soon as look at us. But that doesn't make any damn difference, does it, since you've already made up your mind."

Sonic smirked. "C'mon, how much harm could he do?"

"I don't know, Sonic," Knuckles said, his voice dangerously pleasant. "Why don't you ask Tails?"

Bait squirmed. "Look, mister, I'm real sorry 'bout what Raker did to your buddy. I tole you I dint know what he was plannin'. An' I really _can_ help you find him."

"It's settled. He comes." Sonic stared hard at Knuckles. "If he can help us find Tails, I don't care how uncomfortable he makes you feel."

"One question." Knuckles pressed the Chaos Emerald against Bait's neck again. "Are you planning to double-cross or betray us in _any_ way at all?"

Bait shook his head. "No mister, honest."

The gem remained dark and Knuckles withdrew it, but still wasn't overly convinced. Sonic rolled his eyes.

"Jeez, Knux, you gotta bring out the cosmic lie detector _every _time we meet someone new?" He shook his head, grinning. "Anyone ever suggest your people skills could use a little work?"

Knuckles glared at him.

"Oh shut up, Mister Sonic!"

**Okay, another chapter done :P If you read it, please leave a review!**


	4. Aquatic Ruin Zone

**FriedBrickWall: You go back to screaming Tails if you want :P I'll probably write a chapter on him sooner or later ;) As for Shadow...hmm, you really wanna see him in this? (shrugs) Okay. I'll do what I can :P (_Knuckles: Look, I didn't MEAN to mention that to Sonic! He just irritates the crap out of me!_) (rolls eyes) Sometimes I wonder why I bother with certain characters :P**

**Saffra: Glad you approve ;) (_Knuckles: Why shouldn't I call Tails a friend?_) Knux, give it up; you know you're usually too proud to claim friendship with anyone.**

**Samantha27: (grins) Thanks; I'm glad you liked it ;) Bait...well, he does have more purpose than just being a Tails replacement :P As to his intentions...you'll find out soon enough! The fight between Sonic and Tails wasn't written about; chronologically it happened after Tails left Angel Island, but before Knuckles healed Sonic, and don't forget that Tails hasn't seen Sonic since that fight, so he has no idea Sonic's back to normal (or at least, as close as he ever gets :P) Tails closer to Knuckles...yes, I think in a way he is now, more because Knuckles has never done anything (really) to upset him or stab him in the back; as Tails himself said about Knuckles, "He may be an antisocial jerk, but at least he's honest about it." As far as Knuckles feels about Tails, I think Sonic's 'death' put things into perspective; Sonic's not the only one who matured rapidly during that time. As to Sonic's feelings...well, you'll have to wait and see. He doesn't strike me as the jealous type though ;)**

**Ryopon: Okay. I'll throw in the odd Tails chapter to keep you happy :P Not this one, but perhaps the next.**

**Treasurehunter: LOL Okay, I'm continuing ;)**

**Kj: Heh, you'll have to wait and see ;) Seriously though, yes, finding Tails is going to be the main plot. At least, that's how it is now. Who knows what's gonna happen in future chapters :P**

**Matri90: Thanks. I'll try :)**

**Parslie: Yep, it's a sequel :P Glad you enjoy it ;)**

_Guardian's Log no. 11474_

_So now we've got him, this Bait character. We don't really know who he is, we don't know if we can trust him, but because he turned on the adoration, Sonic's besotted with him and wouldn't hear of leaving him behind. Me, I think if he sold Tails out (literally) then he'd sell us out too._

_I'm keeping my eye on you, kid._

_--Knuckles the Echidna_

_My Memoirs by Me_

_So Knucklehead's pissed off with me again! Man, why does this always happen to me? Just 'cause I let the kid tag along!_

_I like Bait. I know Knuckles doesn't trust him, but let's face it, Knuckles doesn't trust anybody. And if the kid does try and betray us and we get sent to the same place as Tails...well, at least we'll find him again._

_--Sonic the Hedgehog_

_Bait's Jurnal_

_Gonna try to rite agen, not done it for ages, Raker says its a wayst of time and never lets me. Met to guys called Sonic and Nux. They were looking for there frend Tails. And thats not all, Nux has a Caos Emruld! I never thort Id see one up close like that! And yes the Sonic is the Mobius hero! I promised Id help them find Tails and then Ill go find a new home._

_All this is giving me a hedake. Ill rite mor soon._

_--Bait the Jakkel_

"What are you doing?" Sonic said. Bait jumped, slamming the book shut and stuffing it into his bag.

"Nothin', mister!"

"It didn't look like _nothing_."

Bait squirmed, then reluctantly pulled out the journal.

"Well...'s jus' a li'l somethin'. Thought I'd try keepin' a journal again. You wanna read it, mister, you can. I ain't plottin' anythin' in it, honest."

Sonic glanced down at the offered book, then shook his head. He knew how he'd feel if someone read his own log, his innermost thoughts.

"Keep it. I'll damn well take it if I find you've double-crossed us though!"

Bait grinned, an expression of pure relief. "Fair enough, mister. Thanks."

The hedgehog turned to leave. "And don't call me mister," he added over his shoulder.

"Yeah, mister, right."

Sonic halted, whirled to glare at the jackal. "Is that supposed to be funny?"

Bait looked positively alarmed. "Funny, mister? No. Why? Should it have been?"

Sonic gave up and dropped onto the grass. Despite the early morning, it was already warm enough for sunbathing. Knuckles had spotted a termite mound and gone off to have breakfast – and Sonic made a mental note to find his own in a minute; insects weren't high on his list of desirable foodstuffs.

"Mister," Bait said suddenly, "what did your buddy mean? When he said 'bout swearing on his own eyes?"

"Just what he said." Sonic snorted. "I hope for your sake that you _are_ genuine, kid. Like I said, Knuckles never backs down on any oath and he's very fond of his eyes."

"Yeah, but what did he _mean_? He swore by his own eyes that he'd kill me if I did the dirty on you."

"You want me to simplify it even more?"

Bait ducked his head. "Yeah, please mister. If you don't mind."

Sonic shrugged. "Course I don't. If you betray us, Knux is bound by his oath to kill you himself. If he backs out or fails, he has to gouge his own eyes out."

Bait gawked at him, mouth ajar. "Can he do that, mister?"

"Anyone can do that. If you're asking me if he _will_, I think he'll be more interested in killing you than harming himself. But if push came to shove...yeah. I've no doubt of it."

"Is he a bit weird, mister? Y'know..." Bait twirled a finger in circles at the side of his head.

"Sometimes I wonder," Sonic said lightly, then caught sight of Bait's expression. "No, he's not. Well, maybe he is crazy, but in a good way," he added, a gleam in his eyes.

"Who's crazy in a good way?" Knuckles said suspiciously, coming up behind just in time to hear this.

"Charmy," Sonic said, not missing a beat. "You know, from the CDA."

"Yeah, 'sright mister," Bait chipped in eagerly. "We was jus' talkin' about 'em, right? He was tellin' me how they helped him that time."

Knuckles folded his arms and stared hard at Bait. "Why don't I believe you?"

Hands now laced firmly behind his head, eyes closed, Sonic smirked.

"'Cause he's lying to protect me. Okay Knux, so we were talking about you. But favourably, of course."

"Oh, of _course_," the echidna said scathingly. He shook his head. "I'm glad I found you two though; there's something you gotta see."

"Okay Knux. If you can bring it here and hold it above my eyeballs, I'll be glad to give you an opinion."

"I just bet you would." Knuckles rolled his eyes, reached down and yanked Sonic upright, hauling him along behind him and ignoring the hedgehog's extremely vocal and colourful protests, not stopping until they reached the area in question. "There."

Sonic froze, staring. A vast lake, so huge that he had to squint to make out the far side, lay directly in front of them.

"Cool!" There was the sound of rapidly running footsteps followed by a rush of air and the next thing Sonic and Knuckles knew, Bait had cannonballed into the lake – soaking them both thoroughly – and was swimming happily.

"That is plain unnatural," Sonic stated, eyeing Bait's activities with clear distaste.

"Just because you can't do it doesn't mean you have to spoil everyone else's fun," Knuckles said flatly as he sluiced the water off his spines. "I swim as well, from time to time."

"Swimming as a life-saving skill...yeah, I can sorta understand where that would come in handy, though I never learned myself. But swimming for _pleasure_...oh jeez, Knux, that's like kissing a tarantula!"

The echidna winced. "You really do have a unique turn of phrase, Sonic."

"Thanks. I try." Reaching up, Sonic broke off a few branches. "Well, it's a nice enough place for breakfast, anyway. Wanna help me build a fire?"

"No."

"Figured." Sonic arranged the branches, added smaller twigs and grass for kindling, then crouched down and sparked it with the ease of long practice just as Bait pulled himself out of the lake with the same easy grace as an otter.

"If you're gonna shake yourself dry, do it away from the fire," Knuckles ordered. He'd learned that lesson when Tails had been travelling with him. "Sonic, if we're gonna cook breakfast, shouldn't you be getting some sharp sticks in?"

"Oh no, my vermilion vassal. No, we're gonna cook in—_urk_!" Sonic broke off as Knuckles gripped him around the throat.

"What did you call me?" he said pleasantly.

"Knuckles?" Sonic gurgled, after some incredibly fast thinking.

"Better." The echidna released him. "What were you saying?"

Sonic massaged his throat. "I was saying that we're gonna cook in style. See?" He pulled out a cast iron skillet, one of the favoured cooking implements of Mobian drifters and something that the hedgehog had never managed to get around to buying. "And we got plenty of stuff to eat as well." Sonic dug out a string of sausages, cut them in half and tossed them into the skillet, then added a few burgers to the mix, stuck a branch through a bap and started lightly toasting it.

"It's not polite to drool in public, kid," Knuckles informed Bait, who was staring at the food as though mesmerised.

"Yeah, well, I can't blame him Knux; I'm practically drooling myself," Sonic said lightly. He tilted the pan up, spilling four sausages and two burgers onto the jackal's plate. "Here, get that down you."

Bait complied, snapping up the four sausages in as many bites, the burgers in three and then looked around hopefully for more.

Knuckles raised an eye ridge.

"Wow. Finally we find someone with a bigger appetite than you."

Sonic, who was still looking somewhat stunned at Bait's voracity, noticed for the first time how scrawny the kid was. He hadn't noticed it before; the kid's fur had hidden it until being flattened by the water.

"Where did this come from, anyway?" Knuckles asked.

"I got it yesterday from that store we passed, mister." Bait sat down by the fire and started cleaning the mud off his sneakers with a handful of grass, looking very proud of himself.

"Yeah, he volunteered to get in some grub," Sonic said, casually flipping the contents of the frying pan with the ease of long practice. "He got some good stuff as well. Thanks Bait. How much do I owe you?"

Bait stopped scraping the mud and glanced at Sonic uneasily. "Owe?"

"Yeah. I don't expect you to feed me and Knucklehead here out of your own pocket. Tell me how much it cost and we'll split it three ways. Or at least," Sonic added, "two ways and Knuckles can pay me his share when he gets some cash from his hoard."

"Uh." Bait flattened his ears nervously. "Well. Um. It dunt matter, mister, honest. Uh. Call it a gift. Kinda like my way a sayin' thanks for lettin' me tag along."

Sonic grinned. "You're welcome, but I'm not letting you off the hook that easy. C'mon, don't be embarrassed about telling me; how much was it?"

There was a long, long silence.

"Bait?" No longer grinning, Sonic fixed a look on the jackal, who hunched his shoulders miserably.

There was an even longer silence.

"Bait?" Sonic said again, suspicious now and already dreading the answer. "Bait, you did _pay_ for all this, didn't you?"

The jackal fixed a stare on Sonic that was half appealing, half accusatory.

"You never said _nothin_' 'bout _payin_' for it, mister!"

"Oh, ter_rif_ic!" Knuckles growled. "Not only are we camping out miles from home on a scavenger hunt, we're doing it with a load of hooky food as well! Nice going, kid!"

Bait shifted the look onto Knuckles. "You never said nothin' about it neither!"

"I would if I'd known what you were planning."

"Zip it, Knux," Sonic said flatly, then surged to his feet. "Bait, if you think I'm gonna—"

The jackal spun and bolted into the forest. Knuckles was expecting it and stuck out a foot in time to trip Sonic as the hedgehog started after him.

"Wtd—" Sonic got to his feet and spat out a mouthful of earth, then rounded on the echidna furiously. "What'd you do that for, Knucklehead?"

"Bait," Knuckles said calmly. "You wanna go after him, don't do it like that. You can catch him going at a tenth of your speed, if you have to catch him at all. Me, I think we're better off without him."

Sonic shook his head. "You're wrong, Knux. I think he could be useful." He broke into a slow jog and headed into the woods to find Bait.

This wasn't as easy as it sounds; the jackal's fur blended in almost perfectly with the autumnal foliage, and if it hadn't been for the unusual marking on his right arm – a ragged band of pure white fur – Sonic might well have gone right past him. As it was, he was almost level with Bait before he heard the sound of sniffling and drew to an abrupt halt.

"Bait?" he said. The jackal whipped around so fast that Sonic took an involuntary step back, then cursed himself for doing so. "Bait, you have about five seconds to explain yourself," he said, a little more sharply than he'd intended.

Bait winced, dashing the tears away savagely with the back of his hand. "I'm _sorry_, mister! How was _I_ to know you dint want me to steal it?"

"I'd have thought it went without saying," Sonic said flatly. Damn, he'd never had this problem with Tails; the fox was impulsive, hotheaded and had something of a blind and deaf spot when it came to logic or anything he didn't want to think about but he'd at least been honest. A little _too_ honest at times – as a young cub he'd had an embarrassing tendency to repeat word for word the things that Sonic wished he'd never said – but by and large, Sonic could count the number of times he'd told the kid off on one hand.

"Well...we got the food though."

"That isn't the point!" Sonic took one or two deep breaths. To use one of Knuckles' pet phrases, yelling didn't achieve anything except a sore throat. "That stuff wasn't yours," he said in a slightly calmer tone.

"But it is now, so no harm done, right mister?"

"Wrong! There's a hell of a lot of harm done!"

More angry tears sparkled in Bait's eyes as he shouted, "Well, how was I s'posed to know? You, you jus' said, Bait, do me a favour an' go get some stuff from that shop! If you tole me to go _buy_ some stuff Ida said I dint have no money an' you coulda gone an' bought it!"

Whirling, he plunged deeper into the undergrowth and Sonic let him go.

It was much later that night when Bait finally turned up again. Knuckles had been all for going on, but Sonic had persuaded him to wait until the next day. The echidna had volunteered for the last half of that night's watch and had been bored out of his skull until he'd noticed the jackal slinking through the trees. Even in the darkness, Knuckles could see that the kid wasn't planning to attack them; he just wanted to sneak back without being challenged.

A slight smirk appeared on the echidna's face. If Bait thought he could slip unseen past Knuckles, he was in for one hell of a shock.

He moved silently into the shade of a tree. Unless the jackal's night vision was exceptionally good – and given all the _ouch_es coming from Bait's direction, somehow he didn't think it was – he'd be invisible.

The kid was good. He had to give him that much, Bait was good. Knuckles had only taken one step out when the jackal whirled to face him.

"Well, if it isn't the master thief," Knuckles greeted him. Bait shot him an unhappy look.

"You gonna start in on me an' all now, mister?"

"No," the echidna answered frankly. "I've just been wondering how the hell you managed to smuggle two pounds of sausages, six burgers, four steaks and a skillet out of that place without anyone noticing. I mean, it's not like you had a bag to stuff it in or anything."

Bait glanced at the snoring lump that was Sonic, then back at the echidna.

"Mister...is your buddy mad at me?"

"Mad?" Knuckles echoed pleasantly. "Well, let's see. You stole about fifty Mobiums' worth of food – including a certain skillet – you ran away and you yelled in his face. So yeah, I'd say he was a little mad at you and I wouldn't compound the problem by waking him up."

Bait looked confused. "Com-what?"

"Compound. Make it worse." Knuckles shook his head. "Wait until morning, kid. He'll be far more likely to listen to you when he's awake. Go get some rest; I'll keep watch."

The jackal padded over to the fire obediently and lay down, resting his head on one arm. Within seconds, he was asleep.

When he woke up, it was light and Sonic was sitting at the fire with his back to the jackal; whether by accident or design, Bait didn't know. All that could be seen of Knuckles was a tightly curled ball, from which a loud snoring sound was emanating at regular intervals.

Bait got to his feet, then hesitated, unsure of what to do next. Carefully, dragging his feet, he came to stand behind Sonic.

"Mister?" Before the hedgehog had a chance to answer, Bait rushed on. "Mister, I'm real sorry 'bout what happened yesterday, honest. I dint think. I'm jus'...back home it was always stealin'. I thought you was like them other guys. Y'know, if they wanted you to buy stuff they'd make a point of tellin' you, on'y they never wanted you to."

Sonic was silent, more through thought than anger. Most of that had dissipated by now; the hedgehog was never one for holding a grudge. It genuinely hadn't occurred to him that there were people who'd draw a definite line between _getting_ and _buying_.

"Gimme another chance?" Bait pleaded. "I'll never do nothin' like that again, mister, not if you dunt want me to."

Sonic glanced up at him, then nodded once, slowly.

"Okay, kid. One more chance. But you're going back to that store to find out how much everything you stole cost, you're gonna explain to the storekeeper exactly what you did and you're gonna pay what you owe, understand?"

The jackal hesitated.

"I mean it, Bait," Sonic added, a definite edge to his tone that hadn't been there previously. "Or me and Knuckles'll leave you right here."

Bait fixed a nervous look on Sonic. "Mister...I tole you...I ain't got no money."

"No, but I do." Sonic glanced into his bag and did a quick eye count. Yes, there was more than enough in there to pay for what Bait had stolen. "And I'm coming with you."

Bait hunched over miserably. "I get it, mister. You think 'cause I stole that food I'm gonna steal your cash too. But I wouldn't, honest."

Sonic glanced at him. "No, I'm coming with you because I fancy something sweet and I won't know what until I actually get there."

Bait hesitated, staring at Sonic. Almost too fast to be seen, the hedgehog winked.

"C'mon."

By the time Knuckles – who was enjoying a rare lie-in – had woken up, Sonic and Bait had returned and were sitting around the fire eating up the last of the breakfast.

"Finally awake, are you?" Sonic said lightly.

"Yeah...sure." Knuckles rubbed his eyes and sat up, yawning. "See you two made it up," he added.

"Yeah. We had a little chat with the storekeeper about buying and stealing and Bait promised he wouldn't do it again all the time he was with us." Sonic quirked an eye ridge at Bait. "Right?"

It was clear from Bait's expression that he still didn't understand why you should voluntarily hand over money for something that – if you knew what you were doing – you could get for free, but he nodded readily. "Okay mister, sure!"

"He and I also found a slight problem," Sonic added grimly. "You feel up to taking a walk, Knux?"

Knuckles shrugged. "Why not?"

The three of them walked through the forest, not stopping until—

"You call this a _slight_ problem?" Knuckles said incredulously.

"It wasn't like this when I was here before!"

"Last time you said that I almost got my head blown off," the echidna retorted.

They were standing on the very edge of a cliff, next to a truly spectacular waterfall. Even Knuckles, who had an abundance of waterfalls back on Angel Island, was impressed. At least a hundred feet across, and stretching some twenty feet both up and down, the three of them kept well back from the edge. Falling in would be a very short, sharp end to what was promising to be an interesting journey.

"There's a bridge," Knuckles said.

Sonic shook his head. "It's a defensive one."

The echidna shot him an incredulous look. "What d'you mean? It sulks when you try to cross it or something?"

"No, it doesn't sulk. It collapses. They're common enough in the Bridge Zone; only one person can cross before the whole thing drops into the river."

There was a silence.

"I could fix up a way over, mister," Bait said suddenly, producing a pair of ropes and eyeing the distance speculatively. Knuckles stared.

"Where'd those come from?"

"I got 'em from the campers we passed on our way to this Zone."

Sonic closed his eyes grimly. "Bait..."

The jackal shook his head. "It's not what you think, mister, honest! They said they was gonna cut their holiday short an' they'd bought the ropes an' it seemed a shame not to use 'em, so they let me have 'em. You can go back an' ask if you dunt believe me. I think I can go across an' fix up a bridge with 'em."

Sonic eyed him keenly. "You know about building things?"

"'Bout building bombs an' explosives, mister, sure. I can build a small bomb in ten minutes, wires an' everythin'."

"Right," Knuckles said tonelessly. "So if I go to sleep and wake up the next morning with bits of my anatomy raining down on the surrounding countryside, I'll know who to blame." He shook his head. "You really are a misguided little jackal cub, aren't you?"

Bait squirmed.

"I jus' know what I'm tole, mister. Wipin' out or scarin' people who dunt like your pack is somethin' ev'ryone does back in Em'rald Hill Zone."

Sonic frowned slightly. "Even Tails? He said he grew up there."

"Yeah, I remember him a bit. He said he jus' wanted to build stuff to help people." Bait snorted. "Bit dumb when you think about it, right mister?"

A sudden drop in temperature informed the jackal that this wasn't the best thing he could have said.

"There's millions a people in Mobius, mister," he added, in a desperate attempt to regain some of the sympathy of his audience. "You ain't gonna be able to help all of 'em, no matter how much you wanna. Least wipin' 'em out's possible."

There was a stiff silence.

"You know anything else about machinery?" Sonic said eventually. Bait's face dropped and he shook his head.

"Nah, not me, mister, I dunt know nothin' 'cept for how to wreck 'em. Raker on'y taught me 'bout explosives 'cause they needed summun to go in an' rig 'em."

"And they picked you?" Sonic said, exchanging a look with Knuckles. "What if one had gone off?"

Bait frowned, puzzled not so much by the question as the reasons behind it. "I'd be dead, mister, wunt I?"

"And...you never objected to this?" Sonic probed. Talking to Bait for any length of time was like leafing through a book on skin diseases; so disturbing that you felt compelled to continue.

The frown deepened. "You don't half ask some weird questions, mister. I guess I'd object when I died, but it's a bit late then, right?"

Sonic looked at Knuckles for help.

"What he means," added the echidna, who – like Sonic – was finding this too gruesomely fascinating to stop now, "is didn't you ever tell this Raker that if he wanted an explosive detonated, he could damn well do it himself?"

The frown cleared, to be replaced by a look of disbelief. "Tell him _what_?" Bait looked at Sonic. "Mister, you were right; he _is_ crazy."

"Is that _so_?" Knuckles said, glaring at Sonic, who grinned somewhat sheepishly.

"Uh. Heh heh. Well...I may've said something along those lines to him...can't quite remember now..." Sonic cleared his throat. "Anyway, I'm with Knux on this one; why didn't you just say no?"

Bait shook his head from side to side.

"Mister," he said slowly and loudly, as though Sonic was deaf, or at least mentally retarded, "you dunt say no to guys like Raker. He can get real mad an' you dunt wanna know what he's like when he's mad." He shook his head again. "Uh uh. I dunt say nothin', mister, 'cause I wanna keep my fur."

"Don't call me mister."

"Okay mister."

Sonic shot him a sharp look, but the jackal's expression was completely guileless. Next to him, Knuckles smirked.

"Like I was sayin', mister," Bait added, "it'll be easy. See?" He tied one rope to a tree trunk at ankle height, one at head height and then raced across the bridge, seemingly taking no notice of the fact that it was collapsing almost under his feet. Reaching the other side, he turned, pulling the ropes taut.

"You have _got_ to be _kidding_," Sonic said disbelievingly. "He wants us to walk a damn _tightrope_?"

"Correction; he wants _you_ to walk a damn tightrope." Knuckles eyed the drop, then clambered up a tree. "Me, I got my own methods of getting across." He leapt, gliding gracefully down to the opposite cliff and clambering up.

"Oh, thanks a bunch!" Sonic yelled across.

"It's okay, mister, honest." Bait wound the ropes around his hand and pulled them taut, digging his heels in. "See? You jus' walk across an' it'll be fine."

"That's easy for you to say! You're not the one who has to do it!"

"Sonic, just _move_ it, will you?" Knuckles said testily. "Quit screwing around!"

"You're a fine one to talk, Knucklehead!" Sonic shouted over the roar of the water.

"The kid's got the ropes, Sonic! You trust him, right?"

_Oh, emotional blackmail; very clever,_ Sonic thought irritably. Well...he did trust Bait, although he couldn't have said why. Closing his eyes – this would go a hell of a lot better if he couldn't actually _see_ the water – Sonic walked onto the rope, hanging on tightly to the other one. He wanted to run, wanted so badly to break through the sound barrier and be on the other side in a matter of nanoseconds, but found he couldn't bring himself to do it. One step at a time, that was the way. One step at a time.

"Mister!" Bait's voice sounded tinnily in the hedgehog's ears, as though Sonic was listening to the mere echoes. "Mister, you gotta hurry! The ground here's real slippery; I dunno how much longer I can stop my grip from slippin'!"

Sonic's eyes snapped open, saw the water rushing and foaming underneath him and promptly shut down all communications between his brain and his legs.

"Sonic, _move_!" That was Knuckles. "You don't have much time!"

Move. Oh. Yes. Move. Right. Lift leg, move forward, repeat process with other leg until destination reached.

Except...except he _couldn't_, could he? There was no way to convince his traitorous body that moving wouldn't send him plunging into the rapids beneath.

"Damn!" Knuckles looked at Bait. "Hang onto those ropes! I'm going after him!"

"Mister, I can't hardly hold him! I can't hold you too! If my grip goes, you'll both fall into that river an' go over the rapids!"

"_Do it_!" Knuckles practically screamed at him, then raced onto the rope as fast as he dared. Bait winced as the ropes rasped against his hands and tightened his hold with grim determination, doing his best to ignore the growing pain as the rough fibre rubbed against his hands.

"Sonic." Knuckles grabbed Sonic's jaw and tilted it forcefully upwards until the hedgehog was staring into his face. "Sonic, _look_ at me. You're on a rope. You're on a rope, and Bait is supporting that rope. That kid'll do anything for you, Sonic, and all the time you're here he's gonna hold onto those ropes like grim death."

Sonic shook his head violently and for a long time, as though in the grip of some palsy.

"Not gonna work, Knux. Not gonna work."

Knuckles muttered something under his breath to the effect that Sonic's father had done something extremely unlikely with a chicken, then took a long, deep breath.

"It'll work just fine, Sonic. C'mon, move."

Staring hard at Knuckles, Sonic somehow managed to drag one foot forward.

"Knuckles, what'll we do if we fall in?" he said hoarsely.

"We're not gonna fall in."

"What if Bait lets go of the ropes?" Sonic said almost inaudibly, and just at that moment, Bait did.

**Okay, so that's that one done. For those of you who reviewed and asked about Knuckles' and Tails' conversation _re_ the birds and the bees, check out the short story called _The Facts of Life_; it's just a harmless bit of fun :P In the meantime, if you read this, please leave a review :D**


	5. Underground

**SaffraEchidna: Yep, plenty of stuff happening :P I try to keep people interested ;)**

**Awdures: Oddly enough, I agree with you; I don't usually like additional characters, but Bait just waltzed right in (and caused some major rewriting of the plot on my part...ah well :P)**

**Kj: The end...hmm, I'm hoping you're talking about the cliffhanger there :) The other fic, yes. Working on that right now.**

**Ryopon: Ah yes...the question is, did Bait mean to do it or did his grip slip:P**

**Treasurehunter: Okay Knux, okay, maybe you'll live. Maybe :P That's for me to know and you to find out though ;)**

**FriedBrickWall: Well, they'll get to Tails soon enough (weg) In the meantime, read on ;)**

**TC Chan: (bows) Yes, I'm capable of just about anything when it comes to my characters (weg) And I had to start bringing cliffhangers in again; it's what I do ;) I did consider leaving it with Sonic, Knuckles and Bait sitting around a campfire eating marshmallows and playing I-Spy, but that didn't have the same feel about it somehow ;) And thanks for your comment on that line; it took a few rewrites to get how I wanted, so I'm glad you liked it :P**

**Samantha27: (grins) Thanks; I like Bait too :P Sonic's behaviour...actually, I think Sonic has matured in many ways. He's still his carefree self, but whereas before he might have thought it was a good joke, now he's grown up a little. **

**Zaln: (grins) Heh...you're right; it really would be cheap if I had just brought Bait in as a replacement for Tails. While I can sorta see how you might think that...you'll just have to take my word for it that it's not true ;) The original plot did have just Sonic and Knuckles' story until they found Tails, but that's changed now; Tails is going to play a much bigger part than I first thought ;) Just 'cause Tails didn't appear much in the first four chapters doesn't mean he's gonna sit on his hands for the rest of the story ;) All I can say is...wait a few more chapters before dismissing him completely ;)**

Pain shrieked through Tails' body as he struggled to lift the pickaxe and bring it down onto the rock for what felt like the thousandth time that morning. The tool was vast, almost as large as he was, but that didn't make any difference. You had a tool, you worked with it no matter how much you were hurting, and if you lagged behind, failed to meet your daily quota or if the overseer was simply in a bad mood, you'd feel the lash across your back. Tails knew; some sadist had shoved him in among people the same age as Sonic and Knuckles – and strong at that – so in comparison he was _always_ behind.

_What are we digging for_? That was the question that kept repeating over and over in Tails' mind. You didn't excavate miles of underground tunnels just for the hell of it. He'd also noticed something, before the pain had become too excruciating for him to focus on anything besides getting through his shift; they were working in a definite grid pattern. There were hundreds of people going up, at least as many going across and another batch destroying the bits left standing. They were looking for something, something very specific and probably quite small.

Up. Down. Did he dare to snatch a breather, if only for a few seconds? That was a flogging offence as well. So was looking around to see if anyone was watching.

He was used to the constant, white hot pain in one tail by now, although that didn't make it any easier to bear. Like so many places, this one had a definite pecking order, and Tails was right there at the bottom. _That_ was the hard bit. He'd never been able to persuade the others that it was tough enough in this place without being tough on each other; last time he'd tried, two of them had shoved his head into a barrel of waste water and held it there until he'd been on the verge of passing out. Eventually an overseer had sauntered over, pulled his tormentors off him, dragged Tails out and kicked him back towards the wall he was supposed to be excavating. It hadn't been done out of kindness, Tails knew. No, it had been done because if he'd drowned, that would be one less worker. One less _slave_.

In the beginning he'd entertained thoughts of escape, or at least a rescue. Now, though, he knew better. He'd lost his cool with Sonic entirely, and Knuckles probably wouldn't abandon the Master Emerald to search for him when the echidna had no idea that anything was wrong. Besides, even if Knuckles decided to look for him and even if he worked out _where_ to look, how was he supposed to find Tails? Here the fox was just one among thousands, digging in what amounted to an eternal maze.

But what _for_? That's what was threatening to drive him mad. If it was so important to whoever was in charge that they resorted to slavery to dig it out, Tails wanted to get to it first.

Next to him, another slave rammed his tool into the wall above Tails' head and yanked it out again, showering dust and rock chips down onto the fox's head. Tails bit back a yelp as several of them landed on his ear.

That hadn't been the work of the overseers. Tails had met a small group of slaves who put him in mind of one of the gangs back home. Although they couldn't do anything openly – at least, not in front of any overseer – they'd still managed to give him an assortment of bites and his ear was the worst. It wasn't deep or even particularly dangerous, but a fox's ears were incredibly sensitive and the bite hurt worse than all the other injuries put together.

Tails supposed there had to be a subclass of outcasts, a scapegoat of scapegoats. He just didn't know why it had to be _him_.

He was glad he had such thick fur. It didn't help when they were beating you, but it did offer some kind of protection against the chains. He'd seen a kid about his own age, an iguana whose hide had been rubbed right through by those chains. Tails could hear him whimpering when he walked, and he left bloody footprints everywhere he went.

He could understand Sonic now, could see what had led the hedgehog to give up. Giving up and accepting things was just so much easier, meant less pain...

The fox gave a mental shake of the head, furious with himself. He'd never give up! They may think he was broken, but boy oh boy were they gonna get a shock one of these days! The thought almost made him grin. There was no way he could get a message out to Knuckles or Sonic to get them to look for him, but that didn't mean he couldn't escape under his own steam.

Flicking his eyes to one side, he saw one of his fellow slaves working mechanically, eyes glazed and dull. The sight only served to harden his resolve.

_I'm not gonna give in. I'm not gonna end up like that guy. Sonic wouldn't give in! _he thought fiercely, then suddenly remembered that Sonic would, that Sonic already had and was probably still wandering around Mobius a bitter cripple. Well, see if Tails ever built him a pair of walking crutch feet again! Anyway, _Knuckles_ wouldn't give in. Tails was never sure when the focus of his admiration had shifted, had ended up on Knuckles rather than Sonic. He supposed it must have happened after Sonic's fall at some point, although he'd never been able to pinpoint the exact time.

_Gotta get out._ Actually, he wanted to find out what they were digging for before getting out, but Tails could well anticipate being stuck here for the rest of his life.

A shiver ran down his spine, making the injuries there twinge as he remembered Max. Max had grown up in this place, hadn't he, then just died some sixty or so years later and it looked like the overseers were still no nearer to getting what they wanted.

_No!_ Tails wrenched the pickaxe out of the wall with such vehemence he scattered rock chips all over the floor. Driving it back in hard, he closed his eyes grimly, hanging onto one thought. _That's not gonna happen to me. I'm gonna bust outta here and go back to Angel Island. Knuckles'll know what to do. I'm gonna get out._

The only problem was, he didn't know how to go about it. He knew the Emerald he had was the one that turned you invisible, but he didn't have a clue how to use it or, for that matter, why his captors had never been able to find it. They'd found and taken everything else, even his journal (which Tails had seen them toss casually into a fireplace).

He wished he had his toolbox. Apart from being a link with the Sonic he'd known before the hedgehog had turned sour, he might have been able to build something to get himself and the other slaves out of this mess...or at the very least, do some serious damage to the overseers. Not all – in fact precious few – of Tails' inventions worked perfectly the first time, as both Sonic and Knuckles could bear witness.

So. No tools – that had been due to Raker's gang, not these jerks – no way of getting a message out and nothing except his chains and pickaxe. He couldn't pull a cutie like whacking through his chains either; they were so short that it was impossible for him to reach the one between his ankles unless he sat down, and every time you did that you were either stripped of your weapons and had a chain and collar wrapped around your neck to tether you to the wall or – more often than not – you were beaten back to work. There was no mercy or sympathy to be found anywhere; most of the overseers seemed to enjoy their job.

Dizziness compounded of exhaustion and pain swept over the fox and Tails stopped. He'd long since learned the best way to cope with this; you didn't move, you just froze and waited for it to pass, then got back to work.

Unfortunately, this time he picked the exact same moment to rest as an overseer picked to look in his direction. Before Tails had time to recover, the whip sliced across his back, biting deep into skin and muscle.

Hushed voices surrounded him and Tails blinked his eyes groggily, disorientated. Something had happened...he'd paused to rest, hadn't he, and...and the next thing he knew, he was on his back on the hard ground. From the feel of it, he'd been given more than just one blow with a whip. His pain had quadrupled – whip cuts notwithstanding, Tails had landed on his broken tail – and judging from the stiffness of his face, one of those lashes had come perilously close to his right eye, but he was alive and with no more broken bones. That in itself was an achievement; he'd seen people afterwards who looked like raw meat. But why had they done this to him? Granted most overseers didn't need a good reason to beat you this badly if the fancy took them, but they usually told you what you'd done to deserve it. Or at least, screamed it at you.

Groaning, Tails rolled over and vomited weakly onto the floor, then pushed himself to his feet, despite the protest in every single muscle.

An overseer – this one looking like he'd been the victim of a particularly savage attack, maybe those guys who were always picking on Tails – shoved a metal tray piled high with food into his hold. It wasn't for him, Tails knew. No, this was a pure scut job; feeding the prisoners. Despite the welcome break this offered from mining, it was the worst job in the entire complex; the cells were through three miles of tunnels from here, and there was no way anyone could get there and back and still have time to meet their quota for the day.

Tails shifted his grip and started jogging towards the entrance to those tunnels. The quicker he went, the quicker he could get back. He supposed he should feel sorry for the prisoners – the only time they got food was when a slave screwed up and was forced to carry it, and even then the food in question was so rancid it usually poisoned them – but his mind was too busy turning over the possibilities. At the very least, it would let him explore the tunnels a little more, get to know his way around.

He turned left into one of the tunnels. He knew that so long as he kept moving, didn't talk and didn't try to eat any of the food either, he wouldn't draw the attention of the overseers. Nobody ever got punished for simply being lost, Max had told him, and Max had known almost everything there was to know about this place, but now Max was dead...

Here Tails did come to a brief stop as the reality of this hit home for the first time. Max was dead. He was the only one who'd bothered to look out for Tails, and now he was dead. And unlike the time when Sonic had supposedly died, this time there was no echidna to pick up where the dead guy had left off.

What would Sonic do in this situation? No, forget him, what would _Knuckles_ do?

_Something cool_, Tails decided. _Prob'ly smash the place up and tear through the chains with his bare hands, then kick everyone's butt!_

Not really applicable or even very constructive in his current situation, Tails decided reluctantly. About the only things he could do better than either Knuckles or Sonic were swimming and flying, and with only one tail he couldn't even do the latter. And there was nothing cool about swimming. _Lots_ of people could swim.

At least he was too small to do anything other than dig and carry. Tails supposed that strictly speaking he was too small to be doing that as well, but he'd rather dig and carry than do some of the other things he'd seen.

Hearing footsteps down a side tunnel, he started to move again, not jogging this time but walking. Pain and fatigue roared through his body with every step, and he found himself wondering why he didn't just surrender to the feelings. At least if he collapsed they'd be forced to let him alone; you couldn't make an unconscious person dig.

Tails looked at the plates and felt his stomach turn over in protest. Even after the time he'd spent down here (and just how long had it been, anyway?) he wasn't pathetic and docile enough to eat _that_. He supposed he might be after long enough, but it hadn't happened yet.

The pickaxe wobbled crazily on his shoulder and he juggled his burdens around until he managed to grip the handle between his teeth. That was better. You didn't leave your tools lying around in case some other slave pinched them. He'd learned that one the hard way.

Tails abruptly came to a halt again, this time because there was a chasm in front of him. It wasn't excessively large – if he'd been healthy, he could have jumped it without thinking – but loaded down with trays and with a pickaxe in his mouth...that was a whole different story.

Well...he supposed he had to try, if only because he didn't want to go back and risk being spotted by someone. There was a saying in the tunnels; you do not go back, you only go on. Besides...it wasn't _such_ a big chasm. Not really.

Tails forced his protesting body into a run. The edge of the chasm crumbled as he got near it and he launched himself into the air reflexively. His feet missed the other side by a good six inches and in desperation, Tails flung both tray and pickaxe away and scrabbled for a hold with his fingers, catching hold of a solid outcropping and clambering up, not resting until he'd crawled over the lip of the chasm.

Below him, there was a series of loud crashes and clangs as the tray and its contents hit the bottom. Tails winced, flattening his ears. Oh boy, now he really was gonna get it; he was supposed to bring the tray back afterwards, to say nothing of his tool.

Well, they could do what they liked to him! Even if they flung him in the prison and left him to rot, he _still_ wouldn't surrender!

_I'm not gonna give up. Whatever happens, whatever they do to me, I'm not gonna wind up like Sonic. I'm not gonna let 'em win._

He'd fought once before, in the beginning. Once had been more than enough; they'd beaten him into unconsciousness and given him an additional ten lashes the next morning. Tails was determined not to give in to them, but even he could admit that there was a big difference between defiance and suicide. Better to put up with it and be healthier when the chance came to fight back, catch 'em with their guard down.

Tails finally gave in to the demands of his small body and dropped onto the floor, where he didn't fall asleep so much as pass out. As always, his last thoughts were fixed on Knuckles and Angel Island, although this time the beginnings of a plan were stirring in there as well.

**Well, I've had people ask (or demand) to know what's happening to Tails, so I thought this chapter was as good as any to do a short catch up ;) At the moment it's going to work out being one chapter Sonic & Co., one chapter Tails and so on. At least until they're all reunited ;) If you read, please review :) **


	6. Water and Wood

**Kj: Yep, it's a Tails chapter, and there'll be plenty more Tails to come ;) And yes, one tail is broken. You'll get a few more details on that later on :P**

**XtailsX:D Thanks. And you will see more of Tails very soon :P**

**Treasurehunter: Well, like I say, people have been asking about Tails. Erm. Was it an evil place for me to put that chapter in then, just after a Sonic and Knuckles cliffhanger? (innocent look) (_Knuckles: I'll give 'em Knuxie!_) (_Sonic: What? It's a cool nickname!_)**

**Awdures: Well...sorta ;)**

**Ryopon: Ah yes...that is the question, isn't it:P You'll find out...read on ;)**

**FriedBrickWall: Well...you did say you wanted Tails ;) **

**SaffraEchidna: Yep, it was about time Tails put in an appearance :P If it's any consolation, Tails-torturing isn't going to be a very big part of this fic ;)**

_Guardian's Log no. 11475_

_So Bait's a thief as well as a slaver. That figures._

_Actually...no, that's not fair. I can see where he was coming from when Sonic told him to 'get' the food instead of 'buying' it. I suppose if you hang out with Raker – I'm guessing that's the jerkal who led that pack – you get used to drawing such lines. I was surprised at Sonic's reaction though; I thought he was gonna just laugh it off, or say something like, okay but don't do it again. I never imagined he'd march the kid all the way back and make him pay for it. Looks like he's grown up some after all._

_How the hell did Bait smuggle all that stuff out, anyway?_

_I had a dream last night about Tails. He's...well, he's no better off. I know what Sonic meant now; I get the same feeling...wherever the kid is, he's underground. I get something more though...like I should know where he is. I wonder if Sonic got a similar sensation? I'll have to ask him._

_--Knuckles the Echidna_

_My Memoirs by Me_

_Wow. Talk about an eye-opener. I mean, Bait stealing that stuff...and the way he just looked at me. Maybe I should've been more specific at the time._

_I could've killed that damn storekeeper though! There's Bait looking properly repentant and me hoping that this lesson'll stick – and that Bait would be press-ganged into doing a little shelf-stacking as punishment, if I'm really honest – then the kid mumbles out what he did and offers the money. And what does that storekeeper say? Does he say, "You're lucky I don't call the authorities!" No! Does he say, "I want you to work off some more of that debt by helping me for the rest of the day!" No! Does he say, "Oh, that's alright, it doesn't matter, there's plenty more where that came from after all." Ding ding ding! We have a winner! I had to practically force the money into that guy's till! Man, it's no wonder Bait thinks it's okay to steal if that's the attitude of the storekeepers back in Emerald Hill Zone!_

_Okay. Okay, deep breaths. It wasn't Bait's fault the guy said that, after all. Actually, I've got a nasty suspicion that it was my fault; that look in the storekeeper's eyes was one I'm all too familiar with. If I'd said I wanted to take over the store, he probably would have not only let me but asked for my autograph into the bargain._

_I'll have to keep a close eye on Bait. I think he's learned his lesson, but...well, we'll have to see._

_--Sonic the Hedgehog_

_Bait's Jurnal_

_I dont see why Sonic's so mad. We wanted food, we got food and we got to keep the cash. I did wat he asked and sed I was sorry. Even the guy in the stor sed it dint matter, so wat's the problem?_

_--Bait the Jakkel_

Knuckles was soaking wet, bruised and almost deafened by the crashing of the waterfall below him. He was also a lot further down the cliff than he'd intended to be and climbing a lot slower than usual, largely due to the fact that Sonic had him in a death grip with all prehensile appendages and showed no sign of letting go. Knuckles had only once before encountered someone who clung onto him with similar determination, and that had been Tails, when they'd been trapped in that cave together. Although Sonic was nothing but pure muscle, he was still a lot heavier than the fox had been – especially when drenched to the skin – and Knuckles was incredibly relieved when he finally clambered over the edge of the cliff.

"You're okay!" Bait seized the echidna's wrist in both hands and pulled, throwing all his weight behind it. Knuckles opened his mouth to tell the kid to get the hell off him – he honestly wasn't sure whether Bait was planning to keep pulling him up or throw him and Sonic off the cliff again – then thought better of it and dug his free spikes into the ground, hauling himself up and onto dry land.

As though he'd read the echidna's mind, Bait abruptly dropped Knuckles' wrist as though he'd been burned and backed off, putting his hands behind his back.

"Sorry mister. I jus'...you looked like you was havin' trouble." He frowned. "How come you're wet? Did you fall in?"

"Have some sense, kid. If I'd fallen under that waterfall, I wouldn't be here, would I?" Knuckles shook his head. "I glided to the wall and climbed up. I wasn't high enough to get away from the spray though."

"Wow." Bait looked at Sonic, who showed no signs of letting go. "What's wrong with him, mister? He looks kinda scared."

"Well, yeah," Knuckles conceded with heavy sarcasm. "That's probably because he's a hydrophobe who fell into a raging river because someone – can't think who at the minute – dropped the damn rope!"

Bait winced as though the echidna had struck him. "I dint _mean_ to!"

"Seems to me your whole life's full of things you didn't mean to do but did," Knuckles said, brutally honest.

"I _was_ holdin' the rope, honest, but...it slipped. Mister, I did try to tell you I couldn't hold you an' your buddy."

"Sonic isn't my buddy!"

"Okay, sure, but I did try to tell you, remember?"

Knuckles considered, casting his mind back.

"Yeah, you did," he admitted grudgingly. "But I still say you could've held it a bit longer!"

"I tried, mister, honest I did, but..." Bait gave up and just held out a hand for inspection.

Knuckles gave it a cursory glance, then frowned and caught hold of the jackal's wrist, pulling the palm closer for inspection. Bait winced.

"That hurt?" Knuckles demanded.

"Uh...no."

"Then why'd you jump?"

"'Cause you never know when it's gonna _start_ hurtin', do you, mister?"

In spite of the jackal's words, Knuckles was sure that it already hurt a hell of a lot. Bait wore thick gloves that had probably been white once upon a time, but the rope had ripped through the fabric as it went, taking most of Bait's skin off in a clean line at the same time. Looking as they did, it was obvious that the kid hadn't intended to let go of the rope; it had literally torn itself out of his grasp.

"You'll want to clean those," Knuckles said, glancing at the other one, which looked just as nasty. "Have a look in the bag. There's some medical stuff in there; you can probably rig up a bandage without too much trouble."

"Naw, I'll jus' lick 'em, mister. They'll be fine."

"You damn well won't!" Knuckles said sharply. "The Emeralds alone know where your tongue's been."

Bait paused, the tongue in question hovering over his palms, and squinted at Knuckles perplexedly.

"In my mouth, mister, where I usually keep it. 'Sokay; 's what I usually do anyway."

"Bait?" Knuckles said levelly.

"Yes mister?"

"Get your tongue away from your hands and fix 'em up properly right now."

"Yes mister."

"Actually, before you do that, will you come and prise the Spineless Wonder here off me!" Knuckles grated. "Use a crowbar, if he won't let go any other way."

Bait studied Sonic's frozen form thoughtfully. "Dunno if that'd work, mister. That grip of his dunt look like it'd budge even with a crowbar."

"I was actually thinking more of hitting him over the head with it, but you're probably right." Knuckles shook his head. "Complete brainlock," he muttered.

"Mebbe if you threw a glass o' water in his face, mister," Bait suggested, then quailed under the echidna's stare. "Or not, it was jus' an idea."

"Don't you think he's had enough water already?" Knuckles demanded, although he did consider the idea for a minute.

"Yeah, prob'ly." Bait subsided for a minute, then brightened up again. "Mister, mebbe we could do that thing. Y'know, where one guy blows down the other guy's throat?"

"Three things wrong with that, kid. Firstly, I draw the line at putting my lips on Sonic's for _any_ reason. Secondly, Sonic isn't actually dead, and doing that on a live person can really screw things up inside 'em. Thirdly, although it does work on a dead person, whenever they come back I guarantee you that they will always, always vomit, no matter how they died. You really want someone else's puke running down your throat?"

Bait shifted his weight, looking disgusted. "Uh uh, not me, mister."

"Right." Knuckles relented slightly; the jackal had at least tried to help, and his ideas hadn't been that bad. "Back off. I'll sort him; we echidnas have a tried and tested method of dealing with such things that's been passed down for generations." Knuckles twisted Sonic around and slapped him once across the face, not hard enough to do any real damage but more than hard enough to be felt, then grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him hard. "Come out of it, you bloody hypochondriac!"

For a moment there was nothing, then the hedgehog blinked once, groggily, and focused on him.

Smirking, Knuckles backed off, glancing at Bait, who was staring slack-jawed at him. "See? Never fails."

"Knux?" Sonic stared at the echidna, then a violent shudder ran through his body. "Oh man, Knux, I thought I was a goner for real that time."

"You almost were. And next time you decide to seize me around the neck and expect me to carry you all the way up that cliff, would it kill you to lose a few pounds first?"

Sonic shot him a look. "What happened, anyway?"

"You don't remember?"

"All I remember is starting to step onto that bridge and the next thing I know I'm here, soaking wet."

Knuckles shrugged. "Bait dropped the rope."

"I dint _mean_ to!"

Sonic stared from Bait to Knuckles, his blood running cold. If he'd been wrong about the kid...

"Did he?" he said aloud. Knuckles shook his head.

"No. I've seen his hands; that rope ripped them up like tissue paper, Sonic. There's no way he could have held on any longer than he did."

"Yeah?" Concern moving in to take the place of fright, Sonic looked at Bait. "Let's see."

"It's fine, mister, honest. That other guy took a look an' said I could use summa that stuff you got in your bag."

Sonic quirked an eye ridge at him. "You ever tried to bandage up your own hands before, kid? It's not as easy as it sounds, believe me."

"'Sokay. I cleaned 'em good; they're fine."

Sonic looked at Knuckles. "Did he?" he said again.

"He gave them a couple of swipes with his tongue if that's what you mean by cleaning, yeah."

"I was gonna go for a swim in the river an' clean 'em that way," Bait said obstinately as they started walking along the river in question, away from the falls, "on'y your buddy come up with you an' I haven't got round to it yet." He cast a longing look at the river.

"You swim if you really want to," Sonic said, eyeing the water with a shudder. He didn't think he'd ever forget the bridge incident as long as he lived. "Me, I'm staying here on the ground. How you enjoy that..." He shivered again.

"It's fun, mister, honest."

"I'll take your word for it. Personally I'd rather have a tub of live spiders dumped on me."

"It could be arranged," Knuckles muttered, not quite under his breath.

Sonic punched him lightly on the arm, then returned his attention to Bait. "And don't soak us this time; I've only just dried out!"

Bait obeyed, lowering himself into the water with such exaggerated caution that Knuckles – who wasn't entirely lacking in the mischief department – was sorely tempted to give him a helpful nudge.

For a few minutes, they continued on in silence, Sonic and Knuckles walking and Bait swimming.

"Still think he's a threat?" Sonic asked in an undertone, glancing over to where Bait was now doggypaddling underwater, apparently quite content. The sight reminded him of his own narrow escape and he looked away hurriedly.

"I dunno. Something about him creeps me out, though. Have you noticed how he never calls us by name?" Knuckles said quietly.

"Yeah," muttered Sonic, who, like the echidna, had given up trying to break Bait of this particular habit. "Even to each other. If he's talking to me about you, it's always 'your buddy' or 'that other guy'. Think he even remembers our names?"

"He ought to know yours, given how often you've tried to ram it down his throat with a plunger. I don't care what he calls me, so long as it's not insulting."

"Yeah?" Sonic glanced at him, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "What about Knucky?"

"That falls under the heading of insulting, as you well know. Knux is alright, I guess."

"We could always combine the two," Sonic suggested slyly.

"What, Knuxie? You want another bath, Sonic, just you try it."

Sonic shuddered dramatically. "Point taken, Knux, but don't you think it's a little strange?"

"How should I know?" the echidna demanded. "I don't know what's normal and what's not for Mobian kids. In case it escaped your notice, I haven't had much experience with them except for Tails, and he's not your average kid."

"You got that right."

Talking about Tails jogged something in Knuckles' memory. "That reminds me; you know that dream you have about him?"

Sonic went very still, then said, "I could have gone the rest of the day without you bringing that up, Knux."

"Tough. You know you said you think Tails is in a rocky place somewhere?"

"Yeah."

"You get the feeling you've been in that place before?"

Sonic stopped walking and glanced at Knuckles, frowning slightly. "No. Why? Do you?"

It seemed pointless to deny, now that he'd brought it up, and the echidna nodded once, slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, I feel like...I dunno. Like if you go back to a place you lived in as a very young kid, you remember but you don't know why."

"You don't think," Sonic lowered his voice so much that Knuckles had to practically lipread the next words, "you don't think he could be back there, do you? On Angel Island?"

"No. Trust me. I know every inch of that island like the back of my hand."

"I'd find that a lot more reassuring if you weren't wearing gloves, Knucklehead."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Seriously though, there is no way even one person could get onto that island without me knowing, let alone what must be a pretty large team."

Sonic subsided, not entirely convinced. "Well...if you say so."

"I do." Heartily sorry now that he'd brought the subject up, Knuckles strode on ahead, mind turning frantically. It...no. No, what Sonic suggested wasn't possible. Best to forget it.

They made camp a quarter of a mile outside the forest that night. Bait had been unusually silent for most of the day, and even Sonic hadn't been able to get much more than a short grunt out of him or mumbled reply along the lines of, "yes, mister."

Later that evening, Knuckles was lying on his stomach in front of their campfire, enjoying that special feeling that comes of almost being too hot on one side and cold on the other, when a pair of black and white sneakers appeared in his line of vision. Groaning, the echidna sat up, staring at Bait.

"What's up with you now?"

The jackal squirmed slightly. "Mister, can I ask you somethin'?"

"You just did." Seeing Bait's pained expression, Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine. Ask me." _Jeez, Sonic, why'd you have to pick now to slip into the woods for a little private time?_

The jackal squirmed some more, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly before finally blurting out, "Why dunt he get on with it?"

"Huh?" Knuckles glanced at him. "Get on with what? Who are you talking about?"

The jackal ducked his head. "I screwed up bad back there an' Sonic knows it, right?"

Knuckles snorted. "Well, he'd have to be blind, deaf and pretty damn stupid on top of that _not_ to know. You collapsed a bridge while he was still standing on it, so yeah, I think it's safe to say that you screwed up big time."

"See? _You_ get it, mister. So what's Sonic waitin' for? Why dunt he jus' get on with it?"

"Get on with _what_?" Knuckles demanded testily. Bait glared at him defiantly and crossed his arms.

"Look, mister, all I'm sayin' is that if Sonic listens to you, mebbe you can ask him to get the beatin' over and done with tonight!"

"_Beating_?" Knuckles stared openly at Bait, all thoughts of supper forgotten. "What are you talking about?" When Bait was obstinately silent, the echidna shook his head. "Sonic has never beaten anyone in his life, kid, so I don't think he'll start with you."

Bait snorted, clearly not believing a word Knuckles was saying. "Uh huh. Anyway, can you ask him to get on an' do it, mister? 'Cause I dunt mind punishments but this waitin's worse than any beatin' he could give me so if he dunt get a move on it's not gonna have no effect on me!"

Whirling, he raced away, swerving wildly to avoid a surprised Sonic before diving into the forest. The hedgehog turned to stare after him in a puzzled fashion, then came to join Knuckles.

"What've you been saying to him now, Knux?" he said lightly, grinning to let the echidna know he wasn't serious.

"Me? Not a damn thing. He said plenty to me though." Knuckles shook his head. "Are you planning to do something to him for the bridge collapsing?"

"What?" Sonic stared at him, no longer grinning. "Hell no! The kid just made a mistake, that's all!"

"Yeah? Well, I wish you'd tell him that. I'm sick of him creeping around the place like a criminal; it's embarrassing."

"That's a pretty good metaphor coming from you, Knux." Sonic speared a small steak on the end of a branch and held it in the flames, the grin back on his face. They only really used the skillet if there was a shortage of suitable branches; Sonic liked using branches because he claimed they gave the food a 'nice, earthy taste', Knuckles liked using branches because there was a chance you might get the odd insect baked into your meal and Bait liked using branches "'cause they're cool, mister, and I never done nothin' like this before".

"So what's this particular criminal think I'm gonna do to him as a sentence, anyway?" Sonic asked, still grinning.

"Beat him." Knuckles spoke the words laconically and was inwardly gratified to see Sonic drop his jaw and, the echidna noticed with considerably less gratification, the steak.

"He thinks I'm gonna _what_? Jeez, what kinda guy does he think I am?"

"No idea. But I can probably hazard a guess as to what kinda guys he's hung out with before now."

"Knuckles, you didn't—"

"No, I damn well didn't! I almost went into shock when he told me, if you must know. I didn't have to say a word to him."

"What did he tell you?"

Knuckles snorted. "He asked me to tell you to hurry up and do it because if you kept him on tenterhooks like this for much longer, any beating you dealt out would come as a relief and not a punishment."

"I don't plan on dealing out _any_ beating, Knuckles!" Sonic ran one hand over his forehead. "Man, I can't believe he'd think that of me!"

"Oddly enough, that's what I told him. He didn't believe me, of course, but it explains a lot, huh?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it sure does." Sonic shook his head, remembering back to that conversation in the woods, how Bait had flinched away from him. "Jeez, does he _really_ think I'm gonna do something like that to him?"

"That's what he said. Makes you think, doesn't it?"

"Damn right." Sonic shook his head again. "What kind of screwed up people—actually, I don't think I wanna know." He got to his feet.

"Where are you going?" Knuckles demanded. Sonic shot him a quelling stare.

"Where do you think? I'm gonna go find that kid and get this sorted once and for all!" He broke into a run and entered the forest, looking around.

Nothing. Even the usual night time creatures were silent.

"Bait!" Anger, not at the jackal but on his behalf, made Sonic's voice sharper than he'd intended and he struggled to correct it. "I know you can hear me! C'mon out here now!"

There was a rustle from behind him and the jackal slunk out from behind a tree, running his bushy tail through his fingers. Watching him, Sonic was reminded suddenly and painfully of Tails; the kid had exactly the same habit whenever he was feeling especially guilty or ashamed.

As though becoming aware of Sonic's scrutiny for the first time, Bait released his tail and stood straight, although Sonic couldn't help paying more attention to the slight quiver in the jackal's body. It was almost unnoticeable unless you were looking hard for it, but it was there. Every sense and muscle seemed to be on red alert; Bait's ears were straining forward towards Sonic and his tail, freed from his hands, was lashing nervously from side to side.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Bait," Sonic said very quietly. "But I think you and me need to have a talk, get one or two things straightened out. C'mon, let's go back to the fire. It's too cold out here."

Bait shook his head vigorously. "I ain't fallin' for that one, mister. I go back an' you or your buddy hold my arm or leg or tail in the flames. I'll take a beatin' but burnin's a diff'rent kettle of fish an' I been caught like that before. I dunt wan' another white patch."

"You—" Sonic began, then broke off, staring. "_That's_ how you got that white band on your arm? Someone burned you?"

Bait shifted his weight. "Well, sure they did. Look, mister, can we get it done now an' talk after? Can we jus' get it over with so's I can relax again? Please?"

Sonic shook his head. "For the last time, Bait, I'm not going to hurt you. Who burned you so badly?"

Bait looked away. "Raker, accourse. I knew we was gonna do a job on someone's house an' I liked 'em, so I warned 'em. He said there was no room for grasses in his fam'ly or gang so he jus' held my arm in a fire til all the fur an' skin was burnt off. When the fur grew back, it was white. Dunno why, but it was."

"Look..." Sonic stepped forward, automatically reaching out and only realising his mistake when Bait's head snapped around to stare at his hand like it was a snake. "What's this all about, anyway? Is it something to do with what happened at the bridge?"

Bait tensed. "You know it is. Mister, why're you draggin' this out so much? 'Cause I'm sorry 'bout the bridge, honest."

"This isn't about the bridge, Bait, it's about..." Sonic's voice tailed off. "Oh hell, _I_ don't know!"

"The stealin' thing? I thought that was good again."

"Yeah, it's fine. Raker burned you?"

"You dunt believe me, mister, ask your buddy. _He_ knows how these things work." Bait glanced away. "Think he'd be on'y too happy to burn the other arm."

Sonic shook his head. "That's not true, Bait, and not at all fair. Knucklehead's many things, but he's not sadistic."

"Least he acts more, more _normal_ though. No offence, mister."

"None taken, and that's probably the first time I've ever heard Knuckles called normal." Sonic couldn't wait to tell the echidna about that one.

There was an awkward silence.

_He really does think I'm playing with him,_ Sonic realised, staring wordlessly at Bait. The jackal hadn't relaxed one iota since Sonic had found him; in fact, he almost seemed to be winding himself tighter.

"Has Raker always treated you like this?" Sonic asked quietly, already knowing the answer. Bait squirmed.

"Well...yeah. But he dunt mean it! Y'know, sometimes it's the on'y way to keep your friends from doin' the dirty on you."

"None of my friends ever did the dirty on me."

"No?" Bait said. "So you must know somethin' about beatin' people already then, right mister?"

Sonic shook his head. "I've never beaten anyone in my life, kid, and you're not gonna be the first."

Bait looked away. "Yeah. That's what your buddy said, an' I dint believe him either."

Sonic shrugged. "You believe what you want, Bait. Have I ever lied to you or given you a reason not to trust me?"

The jackal squirmed. "Look, mister, can you quit toyin' with me an' do it? 'Cause like I said, I can take a beatin' but toyin' with me like this is jus' cruel."

"You're damn right it would be cruel, if I really was toying with you," Sonic said as calmly as he could. "Look, what's it gonna take to convince you that I'm not gonna hurt you? Not now, not ever?"

Judging from Bait's expression, Sonic might as well have asked him what it would take to convince him that he was about to sprout wings and fly to the moon.

"Mebbe...mebbe if you said it on that Emerald thing," he said eventually. "It glows when you lie, right?"

Sonic nodded. "Yeah. Okay. C'mon, we'll go back now and I'll get Knuckles to use it."

"Uh uh." Bait shook his head. "You bring it here, mister, an' don't bring your buddy either. 'Cause I think he's been waitin' for a chance to pound on me."

"Bait, admittedly Knuckles is somewhat...aloof, but he would never, ever hurt you unless you really and truly pissed him off, and even then it's more likely to be one blow round the head which he'll feel terrible about later on."

Bait looked away stubbornly. "Say what you like, mister, I ain't takin' the chance. One blow from him'd prob'ly break my head. I know he on'y holds off 'cause you tell him to."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Fine. Wait here and I'll go get the Emerald. But I'll have to bring Knuckles as well; he's the only one who knows how to use it."

Turning, he raced off, arriving back at the campfire in a matter of seconds.

Knuckles glanced up, startled. "Jeez, Sonic, where's the fire? And if you say it's right in front of me, it will go very hard with you!"

"It's Bait. He wants me to swear on the truth Emerald that I'm not gonna do anything to him, and I dunno how to use it. Come on." Sonic grabbed the echidna's wrist and hauled him upright. "The sooner we get this sorted, the better."

Oddly enough, Knuckles didn't argue or protest, but followed Sonic into the woods and to where Bait was still standing, rubbing one sneaker on the back of his other leg nervously.

"Didja bring it, mister?"

"Yeah." Knuckles pulled out the Emerald and held it out to Sonic. "Touch it."

Sonic obeyed, placing his hand on the gem's surface. Knuckles glanced at Bait.

"What are you waiting for? Ask him, or do you want me to?"

Bait shifted, still tense. "You do it, mister."

"Fine." Knuckles looked back at Sonic. "Sonic, are you planning to punish this jackal cub in any way whatsoever for what happened at the bridge?"

Sonic shook his head. "No. Not now, not ever."

The gem remained dark.

"Are you ever going to give him any kind of physical punishment? Beat him, kick him, burn him, bite him, stuff like that?"

"Not in a million years."

Bait looked at Sonic edgily. "How 'bout in the next ten minutes, mister?"

Knuckles quirked an appreciative eye ridge at Sonic.

"Damn, the kid picked up the subtleties of this thing fast."

"It's not funny, Knuckles. None of this is even remotely funny." Sonic looked Bait squarely in the eyes. "Bait, I swear to you that I'm not going to hurt you in any way, at any time unless you force me to defend myself or my friends against you."

Still the Emerald remained dark.

"Convinced?" Sonic asked Bait. The jackal racked his brains, frantically trying to work out if there was another way to ask the same questions that he hadn't already tried, then nodded once, reluctantly.

"Yeah. I guess so, mister."

"Good." He didn't look very convinced, but Sonic let that slide. "So where do we go from here?"

Around them, the bushes rustled and parted to allow several people to step out.

"Oh, I can think of at least two places," Raker said from somewhere in the darkness.

**Okay, that's another part done :) Hope you enjoyed it! If you read, please review!**


	7. Imprisoned

**SaffraEchidna: Yeah, I think it does take a lot for Bait to trust someone...can you blame him? ;)**

**Treasurehunter: Yep, I did, hope you don't mind :) I just fell in love with it and it had to go in here somewhere ;)**

**FriedBrickWall: Heh, you'll have to wait and see :P (_Tails: Okay, yeah, I keep meaning to respond but I've had a couple other things on my mind right now. Sorry.) _ Yeah, and he's shy ;)**

**Zaln: Tails, absolutely helpless? Hell no; you should have your mind and mouth washed out with soap for even _suggesting_ such a thing :P I'm glad you're enjoying it so far though ;) And yes, there will be plenty of KnuxTails interaction in the future (not to mention the sequel to this one is pure KnuxTails ;))**

**XTailsX: Maybe yes, maybe no :P You'll find out soon enough.**

**TC Chan: Hee hee, yep, you were right ;) As for Knux...hmm, what can I do to little Knux? (_Knuckles: You've done plenty already!_) And thanks; I'm glad you're still reading and enjoying it :D**

**You're partly right about hypochondria, but sufferers aren't obsessed with medicine, just diseases. Put it this way; if me or (presumably ;)) you got a headache, we'd just take Nurofen and get on with things. If a hypochondriac got a headache, they'd be like, "Oh my god, I have a headache, I gotta go to the doctor's for a CAT scan, I must have a brain tumour developing there or be building up to a stroke or something, or maybe I'm developing some rare new disease!" It's also slang for someone who makes a big thing out of being ill; if someone had a cold and went around moaning that they were coming down with flu and oh poor me and by dose ig all stubbed ub, one person would probably say about them to the other, "God, that guy's such a hypochondriac."**

**(reads answer) Oh boy. Sorry. I tend to get carried away when it comes to anything like that; I have a rather worrying interest in medical science...the online medical encyclopedia's one of my favourite bookmarks (and I did double-check hypochondria before writing that chapter :P) Comes of having a student nurse for a mother I guess. Anyway...does that clear things up a bit:S**

Tails forced his eyes open. It didn't seem to make any difference; he still couldn't see a thing.

He'd overstepped the line. He knew that, knew it as well as he knew his own name. He remembered passing out on the other side of that chasm, just after dropping both the food and the pickaxe (both cardinal sins in themselves) and of being found and thrashed into wakefulness again. They'd screamed insults into his ears – his head was still throbbing painfully – and finally driven him down here, into the very prison he was supposed to be delivering food to. He'd only been semi-conscious at the end of that nightmarish journey, and as soon as they'd stopped kicking him along had collapsed thankfully and fallen asleep. That was one good thing about the prison; the overseers didn't bother with you.

It was, however, the _only_ good thing about being there. Tails understood how you could go mad in this place. There was nothing, nothing to say you were still alive short of your own rasping breaths. You couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything save the shrieks and pleas of those others unlucky enough to be thrown down here, and most of those died after a while. Tails had been determined that he wouldn't scream and he hadn't, hadn't so much as whimpered when they'd forced him down that tunnel, not even when one of them had seized him around the neck and half shoved, half kicked him into this pit. He'd been proud of himself then, had dared to flatter himself that even Sonic or Knuckles might have made _some_ sound in that situation.

_Yeah. If Knux was dumb enough to wind up here in the first place._ Tails wasn't worried about Sonic, and not entirely because of how his so-called big brother had acted towards him; no overseer would want a crippled slave. But Knuckles...no. He didn't like the idea of Knuckles being trapped in this place. Tails would rather stay here himself and suffer than let them get Knuckles.

The pain from both his ear and tail was almost dizzying, to say nothing of the lacerations – both old and new – on his back. For a long minute, Tails just wanted to lie down and try to take the pain in silence. He couldn't even curl into a ball like he usually did when upset; doing that made his back hurt unbearably.

As always when feeling especially miserable, Tails slid into what he fondly liked to think of as plotting, but which was really little more than a seamless blend of memories and daydreams. He remembered how he, Sonic and Knuckles had gone racing through that city, how Knuckles had astounded both Sonic and Tails by actually participating. He remembered how Knuckles had always acted as the mediator between him and Sonic – pretty weird, really, when you considered the echidna's character – and how he'd stuck by Tails after Sonic's accident. Tails had often thought that if Sonic was like the wind, then Knuckles was the mountain. He liked that thought. There was something very comforting about a mountain, something solid. You could rely on a mountain to always be there.

_Yeah. Sonic's the wind, Knux is the mountain and what am I? Just some drip in a cave._

Tails shook his head, furious with himself. He couldn't, _wouldn't_ allow himself to think like that. He'd always wanted a chance to be a hero, to prove to Sonic that he was more than just a tagalong kid with a gift for machinery.

_Yeah, Tails, c'mon. What would Knuckles think if he saw you in this place all bitter like Sonic? You can't wait for him to worry about you and come looking; that'll take forever, so you gotta get out of here without being rescued._

Rescue would be wonderful though. Tails' fondest and most frequent daydream had been that of Knuckles arriving in a blaze of anger, wiping out all those who had dared to lay a finger on the fox and taking him safely back to Angel Island.

Tails snorted.

"Yeah, right," he said aloud. His throat hurt, more from disuse than anything, and he winced. He hadn't spoken to anyone since Max had died, and even when he and Max had spoken it had been in almost inaudible whispers.

Something pricked Tails' eyes and the bridge of his nose started to itch. Crying was okay, long's you were somewhere real private and didn't make a meal of it. It was only when you bawled and wailed like a little kid that you had to be ashamed of yourself.

He hadn't cried at Sonic's alleged death, even though it had felt like someone had lifted his heart right out of his body. Tails supposed that was it, he'd been too numb to cry and besides, he thought that someone like Knuckles probably wouldn't have had any patience with tears or grief.

Had this been how Sonic had felt? If so, no wonder he'd gone sour.

One other good thing; he didn't have to dig down here either. Though that was almost a shame; he didn't know how long he'd been out for, but he was feeling fully rested for the first time since being captured in Emerald Hill Zone, and he wouldn't have minded showing the overseers just what he could do.

He shook his head. No. No, he couldn't start thinking like that either. Once he started taking _pride_ in his work as a slave, there really _would_ be no hope for him! Dropping his chin onto his hands, Tails sighed, the sound reverberating off the walls and amplifying itself in the black silence.

To pass the time, he tried to remember one of the stories Knuckles had told him. Tails had been surprised – no, more like completely and utterly gobsmacked – to find out that story-telling was a big part of echidna culture. He'd only managed to squeeze a couple of those stories out of Knuckles – the echidna never volunteered them and only told one after extreme persuasion, cajoling and a lot of mechanical repairs on Tails' part – but something about them stuck in his mind.

_Let's see...there was that one about the echidna who bragged he could sing like the birds, or that one about the echidna warrior who wanted to tunnel all the way through Mobius and come out on the other side. Ha, he should've come here, he could've tunnelled to his heart's content. Probably would've dug his way out after a week and thrown down his pickaxe, though. _Tails snorted again. Yeah, _sure_. Tunnel all the way out and come out on the other side of Mobius? Ha! What an idea!

What an idea...

A mischievous gleam appeared in the fox's eyes. Wouldn't that be something, to escape under his own steam and just oh-so-casually mention the fact to Knuckles? Tails had a feeling that such an achievement would impress even the echidna. He wasn't planning to dig all the way through, just out and up into one of the Zones.

_Okay. Yeah, it would be great if Knux was here, but since he isn't, I'm gonna have to make do by myself. Step one, dig. Step two, get back to Angel Island. Step three..._

Actually, now that he thought about it, there wasn't a step three. Just as well, really; steps one and two would be more than enough to keep him occupied.

Tails pulled himself to his feet, swayed slightly and had to grab onto the wall to stay upright.

_Not gonna faint...not gonna faint..._

After a long time, the dizziness passed and he was able to push himself away from the wall, albeit gingerly.

_One tiny flaw in your plan_, a little voice spoke up in his mind (one which sounded oddly like Knuckles). _You got nothing to dig with. What're you planning to do, try and scrabble through the rock like it's mud?_

Tails almost slumped back down in despair, then shook his head defiantly. No! He _wouldn't_ give in, not now, not ever! He started moving forward, pain making his steps slow and jerky. Maybe if he knew how big this pit was, or if there was a weaker point, maybe he could exploit that. Maybe there was—

His foot caught in something at this point and caught off guard, he went sprawling onto the hard floor with a yelp which he immediately tried to pretend hadn't happened. He wasn't supposed to yelp, not here.

Irritated now, he kicked back at whatever it was had tripped him and barely managed to stifle another yelp as whatever it was jarred his bare foot, already sore from being forced to stand and work on rough, stony terrain.

Swallowing the pain bravely, ignoring the hot sensation in his eyes – pain tears were okay, they didn't count as actual crying – Tails pushed himself onto hands and knees and started to feel around for the guilty rock.

His hand brushed against something cold and metal and he jerked it back convulsively, then touched it again, warily this time. It had a feel about it...it...no, surely it couldn't be...

Hardly daring to believe it, Tails lifted the object up, feeling eagerly around the edges. It _was_! It was the same tray he'd been carrying down here, the one he'd dropped into the chasm. He craned his head back, trying to see.

Nothing. He now knew the chasm ended up in these pits (the journey down had been too harrowing for him to observe any niceties such as location, and besides, he didn't know the tunnels around there at _all_) even if he couldn't see it. How this knowledge was going to help in his current situation he didn't know, but something inside him said that it would, that it was important.

_Wait a minute. If the _tray's_ down here..._

Tails felt around on the floor again, feverishly this time. Before long his efforts were rewarded; his questing hand felt the shape of the pickaxe he'd dropped with the tray and a small smile appeared on his face.

_Wow. Who'da thought I'd be pleased to see this thing again?_

Well. He had a plan and now he had the tool he needed to implement it as well. What was he waiting for?

Feeling around, he located the nearest wall and his smile broadened. Tails ignored the resultant pain as the action split dry lips; for the first time, he thought he might have a very small chance of getting out of this place.

As quietly as possible, he turned to face the wall and started chipping away at the rock, digging what he hoped would be his final tunnel.

**Okay, that's it for Tails' adventures (for now) Hope you're enjoying it and if you read this, please leave a review :)**


	8. Family Matters

**XTailsX: ;) Thanks for the review...as for what Tails is gonna do...you'll have to wait and see ;)**

**Treasurehunter: (giggles) Knuxie-woo? Oh boy, I love that! (_Knuckles: No. No! NO!_) I'm glad you're enjoying it as well; I'll do my best to keep it up ;)**

**SaffraEchidna: Yep, another Tails chapter ;) I'm planning to alternate between the two :) I don't think Tails will ever give up :P Bait calling Sonic and Knux by name...I've read and reread Chapter 6 and...nope, doesn't happen. At least, not to their faces; the closest he ever gets is Mister Sonic ;)**

**Kj: (smiles) Thanks; I will indeed update ;)**

**FriedBrickWall: Heh...maybe (_Tails: (looks at hammer) Well...I guess it's gotta be worth a try. Thanks.)_**

**Ri2: Tails might have been able to fly out, but don't forget he only has one working tail now (the other one was broken as mentioned two or three times in Chapter 5 ;))**

**Toboe16: Thanks for reviewing...glad Tails is starting to grow on you (kinda ;))**

**TC Chan: (blushes) Thanks...I do my best. As for Tails...maybe I am, maybe I'm not ;) You'll have to see. Glad you liked the tray and pickaxe thing :P**

**Matri90: Thanks :)**

_Guardian's Log no. 11476_

_Well. That really was an eye-opener. I confess I genuinely hadn't realised that about Bait. It explains more than it doesn't, and I don't believe he's a traitor now. At least, not a complete one. I'm still not gonna forgive or forget what he did to poor Tails._

_I wouldn't like to be in Raker's shoes when Sonic catches up with him, though. The guy's sense of justice is annoying, but I'll say this much; it's never misplaced and he hates bullies almost as much as he hates Robotnik. _

_--Knuckles the Echidna_

_My Memoirs by Me_

_Damn, what a can of vipers. No wonder Bait wanted to come with us so badly. Poor kid. I can't believe he really thought I was gonna beat him. I...oh man. This is so screwed up it's not true. I'd say that Knuckles was making it up, except I know full well he's not the type to invent something like that and besides, Bait's reaction to me was too real to be fake._

_When I get my hands on that Raker freight marn, I'm gonna...I'm gonna...I dunno what I'm gonna do, but I'm gonna do it and he's not gonna like it!_

_One question though; if Bait really thought I was going to hit him, why'd he come out so promptly? I'll have to ask him._

_--Sonic the Hedgehog_

_Bait's Jurnal_

_I wish Sonic wood hurry up and get on with it. He swor on that emruld that he wasnt gonna hurt me but I cant beleeve that. Raker always used to say that and then go ahed and do it anyway as soon as I came close enuf. I know the emruld's sposed to glow if you lie but Nux probly turned it off. Then agen, maybe Sonic was telling the truth, but its to weerd to beleeve._

_--Bait the Jakkel_

Raker flexed casual muscles as he stepped closer to Sonic.

"How was your swimming lesson?"

Knuckles had to hand it to the hedgehog; Sonic didn't even blink before saying, "Great, thanks. Next time I plan to go out to sea, do a little bodysurfing." He shook his head. "What do you want? Because if it doesn't involve telling us where to find Tails, chances are we're not interested."

"What do I want?" Raker feigned astonishment. "Don't you _know_? I came for my brother. I understand you're upset over losing your own, but that's no reason to go stealing mine."

Sonic shot Bait an incredulous look. "Raker's your _brother_?"

"Yeah. Dint I tell you?"

"No." Sonic returned cold eyes to Raker. "No, you didn't. It's bad enough another gang member does that crap to you. But your own brother...!"

"What crap would that be?" Raker said lazily. "Sure I give him the odd slap if he really screws up, but hey, we don't have the luxury of counselling back home."

"And what about that burn?" Sonic said, his voice now deadly quiet. "The one where Bait claims you held his arm in a fire until all the fur and skin was burnt off."

"Bait claims. Bait claims. He's a liar as well as a thief, haven't you figured that out yet?" Raker looked at Bait, smirking. "Go ahead, little bro. Tell 'em. Tell 'em that was all a lie, a ploy to gain attention." He glanced back at Sonic. "He's been so unmanageable ever since our parents died. Some days I don't know how to handle him."

"Why don't you try selling him as a slave?" Sonic said in the same killing tones. "I understand you're good at that."

Raker heaved a sigh, the sigh of one wrongfully accused. "Well, I can see how this is going to go. I wasn't the one who tricked Tails into coming to meet those guys. That was Bait. He really is very good at what he does."

"Is that true?" Knuckles demanded sharply, staring at Bait, who writhed under his stare.

"I...it's not...I dint know what they was plannin', mister, honest! It's true I did get your bud close enough for them guys to capture, but it wunt my idea, you gotta believe me!"

"_I_ believe you." Sonic's voice had changed slightly; there was a hard tone in it now which said he would shatter before he would bend. For all his faults, Sonic had no malice or spite in his nature, and he'd been genuinely shocked by Bait's revelation. He'd never been involved with any gang in his life, but he'd always had the thought that they fought other gangs and did what they did because they believed in what they were doing, no matter how wrong it was. It had never occurred to him that they might do it because they'd get the crap kicked out of them if they didn't.

"You want him?" His voice was soft, and none of his listeners missed the danger there. "Come and get him. But you better be good, because you're gonna have to come to him through me."

"Mister." Looking scared, Bait edged away. "Mister, don't, they ain't kiddin' around."

"Good. Because I'm not either."

A mocking gleam crept into Raker's eyes.

"Well, I think this is easy enough to sort out, don't you? Why don't you ask the bait what he wants to do?"

Sonic heard Bait's sharp intake of breath and glanced at him.

"Alright," he said aloud. "Bait, if you want to go, you can. If you want to stay with us, you can do that too; nobody's gonna force you out." He looked back at Raker, his stare hard again. "I guarantee it."

"You sure you want him, are you?" Raker drawled. "Did you know he's a thief?"

"He's never stolen anything of mine," Sonic said, which was, strictly speaking, the truth.

"Only because you probably don't have anything for him to steal." Raker smirked. "Still, I agree to your suggestion. Bait, you're gonna leave these people in peace and come home with me, right?"

Sonic opened his mouth to protest angrily that this was a loaded question, but Knuckles kicked him on the ankle and he shut it again reluctantly.

Next to him, Bait swallowed once, hard.

"No," he said, a little shakily but determinedly. "I promised these guys I was gonna help 'em find their buddy, and that's what I'm gonna do." He looked up at his brother, who was no longer smirking. "You find summun else to do your dirty work, Raker, 'cause I ain't playin' no more."

A cool smile appeared on Sonic's face.

"Well? You heard him. Take a hike."

Raker lifted his jaw. "Are you going to make us?"

"Sorry. There's nothing big about beating the crap out of little kids."

Knuckles flexed his namesakes coolly. "I agree with Sonic. And do you realise how much you're gonna have to pay for making me say that?"

Raker eyed him warily, but also with a large dose of arrogance thrown in.

"_I'm _going to pay? What do you think I'm going to make _you_ do?"

"Enough talk." Knuckles took half a step forward and swung from the heels. The resultant blow sent Raker flying through the air to crack his head on a tree trunk. There was a spate of nervous murmuring and the rest of the pack seemed to melt away into the shadows, massing either for retreat or retaliation.

Raker staggered to his feet, blood dribbling from a cut on his forehead, and glared furiously at the echidna.

"You're dead. You hear me? _Dead_!"

"Anytime, kid." Knuckles' tone was at its most dangerous, that silky note only ever crept into his voice when he was about half a nanosecond away from explosion point. "Anytime at all."

Raker looked around, seeking backup and finding none. For a long, long moment he and Knuckles stared at each other, then the jackal abruptly whirled and stalked away into the forest.

"Coward," Knuckles muttered. "Not so big when he doesn't outnumber us by two to one, is he?"

After a quick scan to make sure they were alone, or at least, not being watched _too_ closely, Sonic turned his attention to Bait.

"_The_ bait?" he said, staring openly. Bait saw the hedgehog's appalled expression and ducked his head, playing with his tail again.

"Yeah. I tole you that's what they called me."

"Yeah, you said, but...I never thought it was...eesh." Sonic shook his head. "What's your _real_ name, kid?"

Bait shrugged. "Dunno anymore, mister. I was on'y a cub when our folks died."

"You're only a cub now," Knuckles retorted bitingly. The jackal shot him an indignant look.

"I'm ten years old! That's on'y...what? Six months younger than you?"

Sonic laughed delightedly at Knuckles' expression. "Ooh! Slam. Dunk. Score."

Knuckles grunted noncommittally, then turned and strode away.

"Don't mind him," Sonic told Bait, who was looking petrified at his own daring. Raising his voice, still grinning broadly, the hedgehog added, "He had a sense of humour bypass when he was in the egg."

Bait managed a tentative smile, although the nervous looks he kept casting in Knuckles' direction said he was far from happy about it.

"But seriously," Sonic added, no longer grinning, "do you _really_ not remember your name?"

Bait shook his head. "Uh uh. Like I said, I was on'y about three when our dad died, an' mum...went a bit later. I don't hardly 'member what they called me before that."

"Went?" Sonic probed as delicately as he could. "You mean...she died?"

"Oh yeah, mister." Despite his effort to put a brave face on things, Bait's voice quivered slightly. "She killed herself."

Sonic's jaw dropped. "She _what_!"

"In the lake. She tied a rock round her neck an' jumped. They fished her out next day."

The hedgehog stared at him wordlessly.

"_Why_?" he managed at last.

Another shrug. "Dunno. Raker said she left a note sayin' it was 'cause she couldn't face raisin' a dumb brat like me wi'out dad. I dunno what I did that was so dumb, but it musta been bad, right mister?"

Sonic continued staring at him, sickened. That was...damn, to lose a parent like that so soon after the other one was bad enough, but to twist it around to make a little kid blame himself for it...

"That is _sick_." He spoke the words unthinkingly, with feeling, separating each one distinctly from its fellows.

Bait squirmed. "Yeah, mister, I know, but I dint mean to do...whatever it was."

Sonic shook his head. "I didn't mean you. I meant..." He shook his head again, hands snapping in and out of fists at his side. "If I had your older brother here right now I'd break every bone in his damn body!" he snarled so fiercely that Knuckles looked over from the campfire in surprise.

"Where's _your_ folks, mister?" Bait asked, changing the subject with unusual diplomacy.

"Dead. They both died when I was too young to remember them. I grew up with my friends in the Green Hill Zone." For the first time, that knowledge sent a shiver down Sonic's spine. Green Hill Zone wasn't very far from Emerald Hill Zone. Fifty miles across and he could have ended up like Bait.

"Can we go back to the campfire now, mister?" Bait added. "It's kinda cold."

Sonic shot him a startled look, then nodded once. "Yeah. C'mon."

"Can I have another swim?"

The hedgehog shuddered dramatically. "Jeez, Bait, what is it with you and water?" Seeing the jackal's pleading eyes still fixed on his, he shrugged. "You wanna dice with drowning, you go right ahead. Just don't expect me to join you."

Bait promptly turned and raced away before Sonic could change his mind. A few seconds later, a loud splash and disgusted exclamation from Knuckles caused a broad grin to appear on the hedgehog's face as he jogged over to join him.

"Will you tell that little squirt that cannonballing within a ten foot radius of me is _not allowed_!" Knuckles demanded.

Sonic's grin widened. "C'mon Knux, you'd be laughing if it was me."

"It's me, though, which means it's not funny. Is it any wonder Raker did what he did, if Bait's like this at home?"

Sonic sobered instantly. "That's not funny."

"Who said anything about it being funny? Physical discipline's normal among echidnas."

"What Raker did wasn't like a clip round the ear for being naughty, Knuckles. It was sadistic bullying, pure and simple."

"And we all know how you _hate_ bullies, Sonic."

"Don't you?" Sonic demanded.

Knuckles glanced away. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. You were right; we couldn't have abandoned him to those guys."

"Damn right! You...did you hear what he was telling me?"

"Eavesdropping is extremely dishonourable, Sonic."

"Yeah, you're right, Knux. So did you hear or not?" Without waiting for an answer, Sonic plunged on. "His dad died when he was three and his mum killed herself right after. And if that wasn't enough, Raker told Bait their mother left a suicide note behind saying that she didn't want to have to deal with, and I quote, 'raising a dumb brat like you without dad'."

Knuckles actually lifted his head to stare at Sonic. "That's a hell of a thing to lay on a three-year-old."

"You're damn straight! It'd be bad enough if it was true, but from what I can make out, Raker just did it to amuse himself."

Knuckles was uncharacteristically silent, thinking back to the death of his own father. His mother had said that he'd left to go on a journey and wouldn't be coming back. Knuckles had felt plenty guilty about that, and Lara-Le had been doing her utmost to convince him that it wasn't his fault. To have something like that, to have to live with the belief that you were so unwanted your own mother killed herself rather than stay with you...

"That Raker is one sick bastard," he said aloud.

"Yeah." Sonic frowned quizzically. "Is what you said true? Do echidnas beat their young?"

"We don't _beat_ them, Sonic, not in the sense you mean. But if a puggle really pisses off the adults, it's likely to get a clip round the ear, as you put it."

"Including you?"

"Yeah, my mother knocked me into a pricklebush when I was five. Took me two damn hours to pull out all the thorns."

Sonic's jaw dropped. "Wow! What'd you do?"

"Skipped guard duty to go rooting for termites. I told her I was bored with staring at some dumb ol' rock. Lara-Le told me that it wasn't some dumb ol' rock, it was the Master Emerald and I said damn the Master Emerald. That was when she whacked me."

"Wow," Sonic said again. "No wonder you're so obsessed with guarding it. What about your dad?"

"My father?" Knuckles shrugged, although there was a slight cloud in his eyes. "I don't really remember him that well, but no. Lara-Le was always at him for being such a soft touch, as she put it." He took a deep breath. "Makes you wonder if it's worth fighting Robotnik when things like this are happening all over Mobius. I feel kinda sorry for the kid."

"Still think he's a traitor, Knuckles?"

The echidna met his gaze calmly. "This doesn't change anything, Sonic. No, I don't think he is a full traitor anymore – he's had his chances to betray or kill us – but nothing you say or do can make me trust him completely either. I won't do that until Tails is safely back on Angel Island."

There was a silence.

"You're planning to take him back there, are you?" Sonic said, the idleness of his tone in no way concealing the daggers underneath.

"Get real, Sonic. Assuming that what we've been seeing is accurate – and bear in mind we're trekking all the way around Mobius on that assumption – he's gonna need somewhere to rest and recuperate."

"And you think he'll get that with you?" Sonic snorted. "Dream on. I know you, Knux. You'll keep him so busy helping you with this, that and the other that the kid won't have time to breathe, let alone heal."

"I've never done that, Sonic, I don't intend to start and even if I did, that would be better than your rushing about and expecting him to keep up."

"When we get him out, he'll need something to help take his mind off it."

"Agreed, but that something isn't going to be racing around like a maniac."

"Always works for me, Knucklehead."

Knuckles shook his head. "That's you. Tails is Tails. Anyway, the first step is to get him out of wherever he is. And speaking of which..." He raised his voice. "Hey kid! Which way from here?"

Bait, who had been swimming round in circles in a nearby pond and trying not to hear what was being said about him, scrambled out, shook himself dry and raced to join them, almost running Sonic over.

"If they're takin' him where they said they was takin' him, mister, we wanna head..." Bait scratched his head for a few seconds. "D'you know the Oil Ocean Zone?"

Sonic winced. "If I say yes, are you gonna try and drag me there?"

"If he doesn't, I will," Knuckles informed the hedgehog caustically. "D'you want to save Tails or not?"

"Yeah, I do, but isn't there another way? Man, I've been through that Zone once and once was one time too many!" Sonic shuddered.

"You're only saying that because you're terrified of getting your feet wet."

"That's not—!" Sonic broke off. "Yeah, okay, so maybe that is true. After what happened here, can you blame me?"

"It's the last Zone with water in it we gotta go through, mister," Bait said apologetically. "After that we go through the Scrap Brain Zone an' from there to Mystic Cave. That's where the entrance to that place is," he added. "'Sides, there ain't much water in Oil Ocean Zone. Not real water, anyhow."

"He's right there," Knuckles said with a shrug. Sonic glowered at him.

"How would you know, Knucklehead? You hardly ever leave your nice comfy island!"

"My nice, comfy, _floating_ island, Sonic. I've seen most Mobian Zones, if only from above. If Bait says we go to Oil Ocean to find Tails, we go to Oil Ocean."

"We could go the long way round," Bait offered to Sonic.

"You mean we're _not_?" Knuckles muttered, not quite under his breath.

"What's the long way round?" Sonic said hopefully.

"We cut through Jungle Zone an' Labyrinth an'—"

"Labyrinth?" Sonic echoed. He shook his head. "That underwater maze? Forget it! I'll take my chances on the oil slicks!"

"Good." Knuckles lay down next to the fire. "I'm so glad we got that sorted. Now, is there _any_ chance of you letting me get some _sleep_?"

"You rest, kid," Sonic said in response to Bait's questioning look. "I'll keep watch." He shivered again. He didn't think he could sleep now anyway. One more nightmare about Tails or Robotnik and he'd lose it completely.

_From Aquatic Ruin to Oil Ocean._ Sonic shook his head, trying not to think of the last visit he'd paid to that particular hell._ Man, why do these things always have to happen to me?_

"Mister?" Bait spoke up softly from the darkness, not wanting to disturb Knuckles. Sonic suppressed a sigh.

"Yeah?"

"Mister, you wanna watch out. You wanna keep a close eye over your shoulder, mister."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's Raker, mister. He's crazy. Crazy-crazy, not jus' normal-crazy. He's not gonna be happy with you, mister. He's not gonna let me go without a fight."

"Neither are we, Bait."

"Yeah, but you ain't nuts an' so you dunno what he's capable of. Jus' watch your back, mister, is all I'm sayin'." Bait rolled over and stretched out, relishing the warmth of the fire, and closed his eyes.

Sonic stared into the darkness for a long while. He felt strangely cold, as though someone had just walked over his grave. Maybe he had managed to postpone the bad dreams, but something inside him kept whispering that it didn't matter, that he'd just stepped right into the middle of another, waking nightmare.

**Okay, another chapter finished :) If you read, please review :)**


	9. Sagayan History

**FriedBrickWall: Heh, yes, they are real Zones. Oil Ocean and Mystic Cave are from _Sonic the Hedgehog 2_, and Scrap Brain, Jungle and Labyrinth are from _Sonic 1_ (Master System version) A Spanish name for Bait...hmm...(is thoughtful) Maybe :P Lara-Le is Knuckles' mother...at least, according to most of the info I've been able to dig up on him ;)**

**Matri90: Thanks; yeah, I like Bait too ;)**

**XTailsX: (blushes) Wow...thanks :D Glad you're enjoying it so much :D**

**SaffraEchidna: You're so right :( Real reason...actually, I have no idea :P Maybe it'll come to me later ;)**

**Ri2: You think Bait needs another name too? Hmm. You could be right...no idea what though :P**

**Treasurehunter: (grins) Thanks :) (_Knuckles: You don't have to rub it in, you know!_) Hush up, Knux. Yes, he was knocked into a thorn bush as a puggle :P **

**Kj: Er...just a little, perhaps ;) Thanks and here is the requested update :D**

**Toboe16: To be honest, I'm not sure what you mean :S Sonic did tell Knuckles what happened to Bait's parents, or did you mean would he tell Knuckles about his own parents? If so...(shrugs) I don't know. I can't think of any good reason for him to, but then I can't think of any good reason for him _not_ to either ;)**

**Asher Tye: Thanks; I'm glad you're enjoying it :)**

**The Golden Dove: (blushes) Wow, thanks! And no, I'm not bored; I love long reviews ;) Tails' feelings towards Sonic...this is a point where I would say you do need to read the prequel to fully understand them (too long a story and I'm too lazy to detail it fully :P) And thanks for your comments on Bait; I was kinda worried about letting him into the story, so it's good to know that nobody's starting a Hate-Bait-Club yet :P**

The cave had remained undisturbed for almost five hundred years. The air was cool and musty with the scent of ancient texts and parchments, both of which lay where they'd been placed carefully, almost reverently into the alcoves between the phosphorescent crystals which lit the place up. Nobody had set foot there since the original inhabitants had left.

"OWP!"

Well, almost nobody.

Tails picked himself up, limping slightly, and stared around.

"Wow," he said softly. Something about this room didn't encourage you to raise your voice above a whisper.

He'd been digging for...actually, he didn't know how long it had been. It had felt like hours, and every single swing of the pickaxe had sent fresh pain down his back and tail, but it had been worth it for this. He'd emerged some eight feet above the actual floor and, taken by surprise, had fallen, landing on his broken tail and yelping loudly before he could stop himself.

What was this place? It looked semi-artificial – there was no way rock formations grew like bookshelves in the normal course of things – but who had made it? Who had left all these books behind and then vanished?

A sign, chiselled into what looked like marble, caught the fox's eye and he crossed over, reaching up unthinkingly to brush the dust of centuries off it and only realising his mistake when that same dust got into his throat and caused him to cough violently for several minutes before finally managing to overcome it. Rubbing his now streaming eyes, he looked up at the words revealed on the marble.

_Walin bi-Sagayan_

Tails' jaw dropped. Sagayan...that was the echidna word for, well, echidnas, wasn't it? And...well, he didn't know what _walin_ meant. Library? Cave? Bookshop?

Carefully, half afraid they would crumble under his fingers, Tails brushed the dust off the books enough to read the extremely faded lettering on the spines. Squinting at the darkest and (presumably) most recent addition, he could just about make out the words _Sitoka bi-Sagayan: Nam 510000 bi 514027._

Yes, that had to be the newest book, comparitively speaking. All the others went up in five-thousand increments. And these...they had to be the ancient echidna logs, didn't they? Knuckles had once told Tails that echidnas had been recording their daily occurrences for almost two thousand years, yet the logs on Angel Island barely covered a quarter of that time.

Eager now, Tails pulled the heavy tome off the shelf, carried it over to a large, flat stone that seemed to have been designed specifically for that purpose, sat down on another smaller stone and opened the log at the back, flipping through the pages until he located the last entry.

_Sitoka bi-Sagayan: Nam 514027_

_Gija nomokon abus di-yi Ensel Gubal bi-langon. Ya-yi gharan ngin-yi bi-haintaim na nidim-yi ngerdin hali. Abus jut-yi bromda hialim ghara-tin wanim-yi wu nayeng._

_"Ga-gorin ghara-tin diba-ny mwal gelya grindaim," abus jut-yi. Nu pasin ngima ngin-yi nomokon, tas dalmardil. "Ga grindaim samti yatja-yi bi-walin lahu Mobius bulku, webari limun bulku dabun-ny ghara-tin wan paia. Wuya sa-haintaim, jamen-yi bi-tinga bi-Sagayan, bir bosa, wi-donya na gidarda nga ngin-ni, bir tasal na maleng. Ngin-ny ka binu stra na narba gharan mihan tuma werg wu ngi-ny tong ngu nawa-yi lon bi-mamer nayis, bihan bar ngu-ni ka wargan na yimi-ny mitha bi-ganwusa mihan tuma wan wi yiken maleng?"_

_Ngergin bisain yeda-yi, bihan keis bar ngu-ni saros redi-yi lon gurdu mihan bi-yirn-yi abus? Jur-ya wu-nehen nayis bi-anta bi-nenyin lon ga-gorin ghara-tin, gand-yi mihan bi-sambin boru bi-taim ten-wanha yai. Nge ngin-yu jija-yu malo bi-ngergin bisain bi-ga-gorin walin na lon Ensel Gubal, webari nge inap-yu sambin grindaim wu-kimsin. Nge yus-yeh pawa bi-Gutu Grindaim wey-ma Gubal bi-wara, ka wu-laimamer yatja-ma._

_Nuna samti ngu-ny goga asuha sara-ma. Abus yirn-yi bi-walin lahu limun bulku. walin yirn-yi ngu-ny walin webari nunam bi-ngergin bisain sta-ma, tasal har webari nge yatja-yu grindaim samti paia-ma masinfa. Abus tasal diba-ny grindaim bi-samti, goga wu-ngin-yu laram-yu wil-ma lema na wu-nenyin. Ngu-ny ga baro-ny nge bili-ma bi-abus maja guba, na ga baro-ny bi-ngergin bisain bulua-ma walin bi-Ensel Gubal. Ngu-ny obelen Sagayan maja-ma bisamti parum lema haintaim bi-Mobius, parum ga ngu-ny gurdu mihan. Wu-nehen nayis ya-nga jaha lai-ny. Sagayan wu-ngu-yeh moha-ma naba pira. Hugurdu wahis-yehn na namba bi-nge kidas-yehn inap-ma, bi-gija inal narda jup-ma. Nge wu-pelik-yeh!_

_--Bolwan bi-Sagayan, Wama bi-Waba Bolwan, Gutu bi-Walin na Pawa bi-Walin, Anta Raitha bi-Sagayan_

Closing the book again, Tails could have howled with frustration. Of _course_ the log would be written in the echidna language! How could he have been so stupid?

He didn't know the echidna language, apart from a few choice words that Knuckles let rip with from time to time, and then probably only because there weren't enough Mobian ones to express his frustration with something. He knew the odd word – _Ensel Gubal_ was the echidnese for Angel Island, for example – but not enough to translate this.

_Alright._ Tails set his jaw, determination welling up inside him. _Then you're just gonna have to try and work it out, aren't you?_

His stomach growled and he put a hand on it, almost like he was soothing a pet. How long since he'd had anything to eat? One day? Two? Although Tails wasn't actually greedy by anyone's standards, like most young ones he always had a huge appetite, and he was doing more physical labour and burning far more energy than he ever had before. Maybe he should have eaten the leftovers on that tray after all.

He shook his head, trying to bully his suddenly mutinous brain into working. The quicker he got this done, the quicker he could get out and back to Angel Island. He had a nagging feeling that whatever he and the others were being forced to dig for had something to do with these tomes.

Leafing through it in the vain hope that there would be a dictionary, or at least something to give him an idea, Tails came at last to something which was written in Mobian, or at least, with a Mobian translation added underneath.

_Ol bilhusa nadal sta wara wuji me wethim hali bi-ol bilhusa nadal sta gura._

_Those whose hands are in the water should not expect sympathy from those whose hands are in the fire._

Tails stared into space for a few minutes. Where had he heard that phrase before? Of course; Knuckles! It had been one of his favourite phrases, although Tails had never heard the original echidna version before.

Maybe he could take the book with him, take it back to Angel Island. But no, that wouldn't work; he could only manage to take one book and suppose the one he picked didn't have what he was looking for? This was the latest one, sure, but that didn't automatically mean it was the one he should take.

Tails glanced at the passageway he'd created, then back at the echidna cave. It looked like someone had collapsed the tunnels, but they must be there somewhere. Maybe if he found them...maybe one would lead him to the surface!

He knew he was safe for the minute. The overseers never came to the prison, after all. Tails made up his mind there and then; he would rest first, try to translate this final passage and then when he knew a little more about it, he'd go on. Maybe by the time he understood this one, he could make a little sense out of the others.

_In a minute. Sleep first, then work._ Tails dropped his head onto his arms and was out for the count almost instantly.

He didn't know how long he slept for. When he awoke, the room was exactly as he'd left it, the same log open at the same page, reminding him of what he had to do.

For a moment, Tails balked at the idea – where was he supposed to start? – then set his jaw decisively. What was the saying? When your life depends upon doing the impossible, you'll find a way?

Well, something like that anyway. Even if his actual life didn't depend on this, he was still determined to do it. And when he got back to Angel Island, he was gonna get Knuckles to teach him _every word_ in the echidna language if it was the last thing either of them ever did!

Smiling slightly at the thought of escape, Tails bent over the log and started trying to translate.

It was a mammoth and exhausting task made harder by the fact that he had no way of making notes and that the writers had all been working on the not unreasonable assumption that the only person who would ever want to read the log would be another echidna. He could identify the gist of things – the suffix _-ma_ denoted the infinitive of a verb, for example, and -_yi_ seemed to be the preterite form – but the specifics continued to elude him. _Bi-_...that was one of the few echidna words or parts of grammar that Tails did actually know, and unfortunately was the least helpful. The literal Mobian translation was _of_, but depending on tense and context, it could also mean _out of, from _or_ belonging to_. _Bi-langon_...did that mean of something, or belonging to something? If it was the latter, what belonged to what? Did it mean that Robotnik had sent a minion – no, he didn't have minions, did he, not back then – or that the Master Emerald had just appeared?

Despite these problems, Tails kept plugging away, working doggedly, helped by the rare occasions when part of the text came together and made a strange kind of sense, which was in turn helped by his digging out other echidna proverbs which had been translated into Mobian in some of the other logs.

He didn't know how long it took him. His life had become simple; sleep, translate and sleep again. The sensation of hunger was growing steadily worse, and his energy levels were low, which meant a lot more sleeping and a lot less translating, but he continued to make progress, albeit painfully slowly. At last, though, he thought he had it.

_Today a strange creature came to Angel Island from the clouds. He said that he was from the future and needed our help. The creature produced a chest containing gems the likes of which no one had ever seen before._

_"These jewels are carved from raw emerald," the creature said. His manner of speech was strange, but intelligible. "The emerald matter was obtained from the caves near the centre of Mobius, where the planet's core charges the gems there with energy. Even in the future, we have heard of the wonders of the echidna race, how wise, all-knowing and powerful you are, how fair and non-judgmental. It is therefore only right and fitting that such a monumental favour as I am about to ask you is offered to your great race, for who else is so intelligent and capable of carrying out such a task with all possible honour?"_

_Our clan agreed, for indeed, who else would be better suited to a sacred duty such as the creature described? To prevent the weaker races on the surface from warring over these gems, we have undertaken the task of guarding them for a thousand years. We are moving the rest of our people out of these caves and onto Angel Island, where we may all guard the Emeralds undisturbed. We shall harness the power of the Master Emerald to lift the Island from the water, so that none may find it._

_One thing remains unclear. The creature spoke of caves near the planet's centre. The caves he referred to are the caves where many of our people reside, the only place where we may obtain the emerald matter to power our facilities. This creature could only have created the Emeralds from this matter, yet he would never have been permitted to enter the caves unchallenged. It is this which makes us believe that his story is true, and which inspires our people to desert the caves for Angel Island. It is clear that echidnas play a far greater part in Mobius' future, a part involving a sacred trust. Let the lesser races do what they will. The echidnas shall no longer concern themselves with such trivialities. A shrine shall be built and the greatest among us shall be chosen to guard it, from now until the end of time. We shall not fail!_

_--Bolwan the Echidna, He Who Rides The Four Winds, Master of the Caves and Their Powers and High Scribe of the Echidnas_

Tails looked up, eyes itching with exhaustion, body throbbing angrily all over, and felt absurdly pleased with himself. Translating something like this...yep, that really was something to be proud of. He wondered if Knuckles would like this log. Probably; he was extremely proud of his race and culture and he'd mentioned that a lot of the ancients' records had been lost. Wouldn't that be something, for Tails to turn up and oh-so-casually mention that not only had he escaped under his own steam, but that he'd found the caves of the ancients, or at least one of them?

He seriously doubted that the visitor really had said all that about the echidna race – one of the main character flaws among echidnas seemed to be the tendency to blow their own trumpets as loudly and as often as possible – but it explained a lot.

_Creature from the future...they must be talking about Robotnik!_ It fit with the dates perfectly, after all, and according to both Sonic and Knuckles, it had been Robotnik who had first entrusted the echidnas with the Emeralds, before everything had 'gone haywire' as Sonic put it.

Glancing over, he saw that some of the other books were now strewn over the table. He'd have to put them back before he left; he didn't want them getting damaged. One in particular caught his attention though; it was the very first log and about halfway through there was a drawing of what looked like a cave filled with crystals. It was the only drawing in all the logs – and Tails had, in his translation efforts, gone through every page in all one hundred and three tomes – and the first echidna (name of Layona or something similar) had added notes all around the drawing. As far as Tails could tell, they looked like directions to something called _Walim Yapai_. Well..._walim_ was cave, wasn't it, and _yapai_...Tails frowned. He knew that word, had come across it somewhere in this log. Maybe it was in one of the earlier entries, but he was so tired...so tired...so...

Tails dropped his head onto his arm and fell asleep, and had no idea he'd been discovered until the red-hot pain of the hated whip sliced across his back and he jerked awake to stare into the blazing eyes of an overseer.

**Okay, that's it for the minute ;) If you read, please review!**


	10. Oil Ocean Zone

**Treasurehunter: (smiles) Thanks. Ah yes...will Tails escape, won't he? (_Knuckles: I was a puggle! How was I to know the Master Emerald was so important? I only ever said it to her once though._) Yeah, I bet you did, Knux...**

**SaffraEchidna: Thanks, and a Happy Thanksgiving to you too :D Knuckles admiring Tails...ooh, now that's a strange thought :P You're probably right though; I think in a way he does (though you'd never, ever get him to admit it) ;)**

**Ri2: Yep, looks that way ;) As for the rest, you'll have to wait and see :P**

**FriedBrickWall: Heh heh...you were right ;) The overseers...to be honest, I hadn't thought about that (shrugs) You'll probably find out soon enough though :P They're not any kind of weird and not-so-wonderful aliens, if that's what you're asking me ;)**

**PyroHedgehog4Ever: Thanks ;) And yeah, I'm sure Knux would've loved to read them...maybe he'll still get his chance though :P**

**Kj: Thanks, and more is here ;)**

**Toboe16: Glad to hear it :P Is Tails gonna die...well, you'll have to keep reading to find out ;)**

**SecretSniper: Thanks for reviewing :) Treating Tails as a side character...apart from liking him myself, with some of my reviewers being who they are (coughfriedbrickwallcough ;)) I wouldn't dare! Well...actually, that's not strictly true; I hadn't planned to include Tails so much in this one (since the prequel had Tails as a very major character) but I gave in to reviewers' requests and put him in. I'm glad I did too; it works better this way (not least 'cause I can now spin out cliffhangers for twice as long) and at least now I know what the Caves of the Ancients actually _are_ :P**

**Parslie: Heh, thanks :) You'll get to catch up on one of those sides right now (weg)**

**Asher Tye: You're right; Tails is probably the only outsider who could crack the echidna language all by himself :P As for the rest...read on ;)**

_Guardian's Log no. 11477_

_I'll say this much; when travelling with Sonic, you learn something new every day. In this case, I learned that Bait's father died, his mother killed herself before her mate was cold in his grave and Raker twisted that around to make Bait blame himself for it. I'd say that might have been Raker's own grief coming into play, except...no. No, I don't think he feels grief. I don't think he feels anything except superior, as Tails once accused me of._

_I am a little curious about why Bait's mother really committed suicide, though. That's the ultimate act of cowardice and dishonour, at least, it is in echidna society. Though there is one exception to that; if you contract some kind of fatal disease and there's nothing that can be done...yes, then it's considered honourable, or at least, not shameful to end things on your own terms. I wonder if that's what Bait's mother had? Probably not; most non-echidnas tend to bump themselves off for the most paltry of reasons._

_Tails. Damn, kid, where are you? I had a stranger dream than usual last night; instead of being trapped in caves, I saw Tails trapped inside an hourglass. What the hell does that mean? I'm running out of time? And why the hell do I get the feeling that I already know where he is? Whenever I try to think about it, it goes; it's like trying to remember a dream, or at least a normal dream. Sonic and I are practically fighting each other for the night watch now; neither of us want to go to sleep. Well, we do and we don't; there's always the chance that Tails will be a little more explicit, but neither of us like seeing him like that._

_Whoever did this to him is going to pay. Big time._

_--Knuckles the Echidna_

_My Memoirs by Me_

_Bait told Raker he wasn't going to go with him. That almost gave me a brain haemorrhage, I don't mind admitting. I would have laid money on Bait's caving in and following Raker meekly._

_That Raker is one sick puppy. It's a miracle Bait isn't all screwed up inside. What kind of evil bastard takes something as traumatic as a parent's suicide – by drowning no less, yeesh, I can think of much easier and quicker ways to do something like that – and twists a three year old cub's mind around into a corkscrew about it, deliberately making him think that it was his fault? I knew he wasn't all the ticket when Bait said about that burn he got (the beating thing's extreme but sadly I know that Raker isn't the only one who does that kind of thing to try and keep discipline) but I never, ever suspected things were as bad as that. _

_I'm not violent by nature, but like I told Bait, if I ever have Raker in front of me again, it'll be a damn pleasure to break every bone in that jerkal's body!_

_--Sonic the Hedgehog_

_Bait's Jurnal_

_Why? Whyd I tell Raker I wasnt gonna go with him? Hes gonna be seriusly mad now, if he isnt alreddy. Its just...I like these guys. Well I like Sonic and Nux probly isnt as bad as he seems. Leest he hasnt hit me yet. Nor has Sonic. Their...I dunno. Their weerd, scarey almost cos unlike Raker I dunno wat their gonna do to me at all, but I like there kind of weerd._

_--Bait the Jakkel_

Sonic put the last bit of his burger into his mouth and chewed absently, almost mechanically. For the first time in his life, he was literally forcing himself to eat, knowing if he didn't that he'd pay the price later on. Burning the kind of energy he did...you couldn't afford just to skip meals like that.

He was alone in front of the fire; Knuckles had gone in search of something 'more wholesome', as he put it (which usually meant something six-legged) and Bait had finished his own breakfast long before Sonic was a quarter of the way through – the jackal always snapped up his food in as few bites as possible, as though frightened someone was going to steal it from him, which, Sonic admitted to himself grimly, might well have been the case – and then gone for another swim.

Swallowing, he glanced over to where Bait was treating the rapidly coursing river like a slide; leaping in and riding the currents down to a landing point, then getting out and racing back to where he'd started and doing it all over again. Watching the jackal's obvious enjoyment, Sonic began to think that swimming did look like fun, if you ignored the part with the water.

Knuckles came back at a jog – it was too cold to move much slower than that – and sat down crosslegged by the fire. To his surprise, the hedgehog didn't greet him or even acknowledge his presence, resulting in an awkward silence which stretched out until Knuckles was sorely tempted to go and root out some more sugar ants.

"I dreamed I was drowning last night," Sonic said suddenly. Knuckles glanced at him.

"Is that your way of working up to telling me you pissed in your sleeping bag?" he said, lack of sleep and added concern over Tails making him more irritable than usual. Sonic, who knew the echidna well enough by now to know his moods, threw a clod of earth at him.

"No it's not! It's my way of working up to telling you that we have got to do something about Bait!"

"What?" Knuckles blinked. "What's Bait got to do with drowning?"

Sonic shivered. "That's how his mother killed herself. Tied a rock around her neck and jumped into the lake. Just thinking about that kind of death makes me feel funny, Knux, the struggling, the water going into your eyes, up your nose, into your mouth, trying to breathe in air that's not there and only filling your lungs with water which floods your nose and runs down the back of your throat, trying to cough out the water and only ever taking more in..." He shuddered again. "Man, there's _gotta_ be easier ways of killing yourself! If you want to die for some weird reason, fine, but that doesn't mean you have to _suffer_."

Knuckles let out his breath with a soft hiss. "Drowned, huh? That can't have been pleasant for the kid; I know what drowned bodies look like."

"Yeah. And that made me think of something else; I think Bait needs a new name."

The echidna stared at him. "You think _what_?" He shook his head. "Look, Sonic, your sense of responsibility to Bait is all very admirable and I was pretty impressed by how you handled the whole stealing thing, but don't you think you're overstepping your bounds just a little?"

The hedgehog sighed. "Yeah. You're probably right. It's just...when he said they called him Bait, I thought it was a name rather than just a description."

"It can be both. Usually is on Mobius."

Sonic snorted. "Yeah, and in Bait's case, that's where I have a problem. C'mon Knux, you at least ought to be able to think of something. What's the echidnese for bait?"

The echidna shot him a look. "What, so instead of calling him Bait in Mobian you plan to call him it in Sagayan? Forget it, Sonic. Changing the language doesn't change the meaning."

Sonic thought about this. "Hm. Good point. Okay, what's the Sargaryarn word for jackal?"

"_Ngarrun_. But if you just want to call him jackal, I think he'd be better off with Bait. At least that's a name of sorts. Have you even asked him if he _wants _to change it?"

Sonic looked astounded. "Wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, but this isn't me we're talking about."

The hedgehog propped his chin on his hand thoughtfully. "Okay. So Bait's out, and so's that _ingaroon_, which is a shame 'cause that's a pretty cool name. But you're right; I wouldn't like it if I was just called hedgehog all the time. Hm. What do you say to someone when you can't remember their name?"

"Usually _what's your name_. Why, what do you say?"

Sonic, catching sight of a barely hidden gleam in the echidna's eyes, folded his arms. "Very funny, Knucklehead! You know what I mean."

"_Ngaramira_, then." He shook his head. If Sonic really wanted Sagayan words... "Look, _karagi, _will you forget this crazy idea?"

"Karagi? Now that's a cool name. What's it mean?"

"Crazy, insane. Or a lunatic, or occasionally an idiot."

Sonic opened his mouth, then glared at Knuckles as memory surfaced. "Oh, so _that's_ what you yelled at me in Robotnik's fortress, was it? You crazy coward piece of gutcheck...what's gutcheck?"

"_Gujek. _I'm not telling you until Bait's a good few years older and preferably out of earshot."

Sonic snorted. "In that case, forget it; I don't think I wanna know."

"What's that kid trying to do in the river anyway, catch a fish?" Knuckles demanded, tossing a few more branches onto the fire and edging closer; the winter air was crisp, cold and with a biting wind chilling them to the bone. "If he is, I hope he plans to share. I haven't had fish since I left Angel Island."

"I'm more worried about him catching a cold," Sonic quipped, then suddenly slapped a hand to his forehead. "Damn, I didn't think! Bait! Bait, get out that water _now_!"

This was easier said than done, as Bait had just cannonballed happily into the river for what must have been the hundredth time and was now being swept along by the current to his landing place.

"What's your deal?" Knuckles said, staring at Sonic.

"He's used to living in a tropical Zone, Knux. I'm not sure he appreciates the different climate here or how easy it'd be to get a chill. _Bait, you get back here right now, you hear me_?"

Apparently Bait did; he cast a nervous look at Sonic over his shoulder, then shook himself off and raced over to them.

"Here." Sonic gave him a sausage. "Get that down you, and stay out of the water."

"Huh?" Bait looked as though Sonic had slapped him. "How come? I dint do nothin' wrong, mister, honest!"

"I'm not doing it to punish you, I'm doing it because winter's on its way and we're heading further north. You'll get a chill." Sonic glanced up at the sky. "I don't like the look of those clouds either."

"Clouds?" Bait looked up to where the sun was shining through pale white clouds, giving it an interesting halo effect. "Aw mister, you dunt need to worry 'bout them. 'S only black clouds which rain."

"That's one hell of an oversimplification, Bait." Sonic shook his head and pointed. "Look. See that halo around the sun? You only ever get that with cirrostratus clouds. And those—" moving the finger— "are cirrus."

"So?" Bait looked at the cirrus clouds, which were even wispier than the cirrostratus. "They're white too."

"Yeah, but the cirrus formation is also changing to cirrostratus, and the cirrostratus are getting smaller." Seeing that Bait looked none the wiser, Sonic rolled his eyes. "Look. If cirrostratus clouds get smaller, that's a sign of rain. It doesn't matter what colour they are. And if cirrus formation changes to cirrostratus and the blue in the sky gets as dark as it is now, it's pretty much guaranteed that rain or snow is coming. Didn't anyone ever teach you how to read the weather signs?"

"Like who?" Bait said matter-of-factly. "Look mister, all I know is it's on'y black or grey clouds like to dump their loads on you an' I still don't see what some dumb clouds got to do with whether or not I can swim."

"You'll see when you get sick," Knuckles informed him. "Still, you want to swim in snow, that's your business."

Sonic shot him a _you're-not-helping_ look and received a _not-my-problem_ one in return.

"What's snow like, mister?" Bait said.

Sonic glanced at him, startled. "You don't know?"

"I know it's white an' cold, mister, but I never seen it. Can you swim in it?"

"No, and if it comes down at all, you won't be doing _any_ swimming unless it's either in a heated pool or hot spring."

Bait looked hurt. "How come?"

"Partly because it freezes the water and partly because it's so cold you'd come down with every bug and virus going," Knuckles answered him shortly. "You're a long way from the Emerald Hill Zone, kid."

"You ever have a snowball fight?" Sonic said to Bait, who looked positively alarmed.

"You _fight_ with this stuff? Dunt that hurt?"

"Only if you hide a rock in the snowball," Knuckles said, apparently to the sky.

"Don't listen to him," Sonic told Bait, "he's taking the piss."

"I'm not. Have you ever been hit by a snow-covered rock? It hurts, Sonic, hurts a lot."

"Yeah?" Sonic raised an eye ridge. "When have _you_ ever had a snowball fight, Knux?"

"Mighty and I used to have them a lot in the Ice Cap Zone when we were younger." Knuckles considered. "Actually, he still likes to throw the odd snowball at me if he thinks I'm not looking."

Sonic winced. "Ouch. What d'you do to him, Knux?"

"Nothing."

"_Nothing_?"

Knuckles got to his feet rather abruptly. "Just because I tend to run _you_ off my island whenever you show yourself doesn't mean I treat everyone that way. Mighty happens to be a good friend of mine. Now, are we going or are you planning to spend all day talking about the damn weather?"

Without waiting for a reply, he turned and strode away, and despite Sonic's best efforts, refused to say another word until they reached Oil Ocean Zone, and even then all he said was, "Man, this place stinks."

Sonic did a double-take. "Wow! It talks!"

"Don't start," Knuckles said flatly. Next to Sonic, Bait – who had also been uncharacteristically silent – spoke up.

"Mister, why's the water all black?"

"That's not water, Bait," Sonic said. "At least, not anymore. That's oil."

"Oil?" Bait stared at the black liquid, so thick now as to be a kind of sludge. "I thought that was bad for the water."

"It is. When the drilling station was first established, they decided to pump all the oil into this small ocean, the thinking being that they'd rather have extreme pollution in one ocean than average pollution in all of them." Sonic shivered. "It's disgusting, sure, but rather here than all over Mobius. Knux, the matches are safely hidden, right?"

"They were the last time you asked me, Sonic. And the seventeen times before that."

"Huh?" Jogging both to keep up and keep warm, Bait rubbed his hands up and down his arms rapidly. "Why've they gotta be hid?"

"Because it's Amy's birthday in two weeks and we don't wanna spoil the surprise," Sonic said loudly as they passed one of the numerous security guards who patrolled this particular Zone.

Bait frowned, not understanding but not dumb enough to question. "Okay mister, if you say so."

"Matches and anything remotely flammable are banned from this Zone on pain of imprisonment," Sonic explained as soon as they were out of earshot. Noticing another security guard, he raised his voice slightly and added, "And that's why we didn't bring any, right Knux?"

Bait glanced up at Knuckles. "Mister, can I talk to you?"

"You're talking right now, aren't you?" Knuckles said shortly. He knew he ought to be more patient with the kid, try and get him to relax more, but damned if he was going to try a stunt like that; selling Tails as a slave wasn't something the echidna was going to forgive easily, and forget wasn't even on the horizon yet.

Bait ducked his head. "Yeah, right mister. But..." he glanced at Sonic and then lowered his voice, "can't you tell your buddy not to keep shoutin' 'bout not havin' no matches? 'Cause the more he shouts, the more suspicious people're gonna start gettin'."

"He's got a point, Sonic," Knuckles remarked to the hedgehog.

"What? Who's got a point?"

"Bait." Glancing over his shoulder to make sure they couldn't be overheard, Knuckles lowered his voice. "If you don't stop yelling about how we have no matches, no matches _here_ and especially not in our bag so please don't trouble yourself searching it—" he took a deep breath— "someone's gonna search us just on damn principles."

"But what's so bad about it?" Bait wanted to know.

"Huddle!" Sonic ordered sharply, seeing another security guard eyeing them with obvious suspicion. Turning away from him, he lowered his voice and spoke rapidly. "Okay Bait, listen. There's a whole lot of oil here and that means a whole lot of flammable gases. One match – no, one _spark_ – and the whole Zone would explode like a...well—"

"Bomb?" Knuckles suggested nastily, keeping one eye on Bait's expression as he did so. Sonic punched him hard in the chest.

"Leave the kid alone, Knucklehead! But yes, like a bomb."

Bait shivered. "Wow. Guess we better get clear of this place soon before Raker decides to bring in a flamethrower, huh?"

Sonic snorted. "Oh c'mon, Bait, there's no way he'd do something like that. The guards'd never let him through, anyway."

"And flamethrowers happen to be expensive."

Sonic quirked an eye ridge at Knuckles. "Really? How would you know that?"

"Everyone knows that."

"Yeah, mister, but there's somethin' you ain't takin' into account," Bait said patiently. "Raker dunt pay for _nothin'_. He always said, what's the point in payin' for anythin' when you can nick it?" Bait himself still couldn't quite see the point in paying for anything you could steal either, but he kept that particular gem to himself. Experience had taught him that Sonic's understanding and sympathy – while normally more prolific than any the young jackal had encountered before – was almost nonexistent when it came to the subject of stealing.

"I think even Raker would be hard pushed to smuggle a flamethrower out without anyone noticing."

"Prob'ly he would, mister," Bait agreed. "That's why he'd jus' walk in, set the others to scare the fur off the storekeepers an' walk out again. Stealin' ain't always done in secret. Raker'd think of it as muggin' on a bigger scale an' without anyone gettin' hurt." He considered. "Least, long's they dint do anythin' dumb like argue or put up a fight."

"Oh yeah," Knuckles said, coating every word with as much sarcasm as he could. "The Emeralds forbid that they should _dare_ to stand up for what's theirs or protest at a stranger removing a large chunk of their livelihood."

Bait flattened his ears slightly. "Yeah, mister, well, when you an' Raker come face to face again and he's standin' there with his knife or claw gloves an' you're bein' pounded on by his heavies, then you c'n tell him yourself all about the Emeralds an' what they forbid."

"Claw gloves?" Sonic echoed.

"Gloves with claws attached," Bait said simply. "He likes the pers'nal touch."

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged looks.

"Does he use anything else?" Sonic said, his tone deceptively casual.

Bait shook his head. "Nah. Least, not often. He always said it was bein' a coward, relyin' on weapons too much. It was somethin' of a moral with him, he said when he dealt out beatin's, it would be with his own fists."

"Someone like that doesn't _have_ any morals." The cold fury in Sonic's voice startled even Knuckles. "He's nothing more than an arrogant, sick, foul-minded—"

"Easy, Sonic," Knuckles cut across curtly. "That's the kid's brother you're talking about."

Sonic looked at Bait, who was studying his feet with single-minded intensity and shook his head.

"How? Just tell me that, Bait. How, after all Raker's done to you, _how_ can you still feel any kind of loyalty towards him?"

"Oh, I don't know," Knuckles said, when Bait didn't answer. "How about we ask Tails to explain it to you, when we catch up with him? Because you turned your back on him, didn't you Sonic? In the space of about ten minutes you turned your back on him, you insulted him, you deliberately and cold-bloodedly hurt him as much and as badly as you could every single way except physically – and that's probably only because he hit you first – and yet, after it all, Tails still never gave up on you."

Sonic came to an abrupt stop. "That's not the same thing at all, Knuckles!"

"Isn't it? Well, it sure seems like it to me."

"Look, Knucklehead, what I said and did back in Robotnik's fortress...that wasn't...I didn't do it to _punish_ the kid!"

"Oh no," Knuckles said, his tone now at its smoothest and most dangerous. "No, you just did it because he was there, didn't you?"

"I wasn't myself," Sonic said, with as much dignity as he could muster. Knuckles rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. That's what everyone says and since I'm an echidna, I'll give you an echidna's typical answer; who the hell were you, then?"

"It was a one-off!"

"So was Robotnik's destroying your feet. Does that mean you've forgiven him?"

Sonic threw the echidna a dirty look, although he couldn't stop the shiver that ran through his body. "Look, Knux, I am _not_ like Raker in any way, shape or form, alright?" He paused. "Besides, I didn't do...what I did, I didn't do it for _fun_."

"Raker dunt do it for fun, mister." Bait's interjection made them both jump; they'd all but forgotten he was there. "He on'y does it if I screw up or if I start muckin' about with whatever bomb I'm s'posed to be fixin' or if he got someone needs trainin'—" He shut his mouth with a snap but it was too late; Sonic and even Knuckles were both staring at him, appalled.

"_Training_?" Sonic echoed. "They use you for...what? Target practice?"

"'S nothin' deadly, mister. Nothin' deadly an' nothin' that's gonna leave much of a mark or break bones neither."

"Oh, well, that's alright then, isn't it?" Sonic shook his head. "Mucking around with explosives...well, yeah, I see where he's coming from on _that_ one, even if he is somewhat extreme, but telling his guys to use you as a kind of practice run..." He ran a hand over his forehead. "Brother or no brother, he is one sick puppy."

"I don't mind," Bait said stoutly. "I'd rather him get some use outta it than jus' playin' Hide'n'Hunt when he got bored."

"Hide and _what_?" Knuckles said.

"Kid's game," Sonic told him in an aside. "Mighty and I used to play it all the time back in Green Hill Zone. One person hides, the rest look for him and when they find him they chase him. If he manages to get Home before they catch him it turns into a race and the last person back to Home has to hide."

Knuckles blinked. "Well, that sounds alright."

Bait squirmed. "Well...yeah, it is, mister, 'cept..." He broke off.

"Except what?" Sonic said. Bait shook his head stubbornly.

"Nothin', mister. Forget I mentioned it. It dunt matter anyhow."

Sonic opened his mouth to press the issue and then shut it again, partly because Knuckles had – possibly accidentally – stepped on his foot and partly because they'd run out of ground. Ahead of them was Oil Ocean itself, at least thirty miles of oil slick almost solid enough to walk on.

"That's the ocean?" Bait edged away. "I don't think I wanna swim in _that_."

"I don't blame you," Sonic said fervently. "And we don't have to swim; there's a transportation railing up there which means there'll be a platform along in a couple minutes."

"How long are your minutes, Sonic?" Knuckles demanded, after they'd been standing there for a quarter of an hour with no platform in sight. The hedgehog glowered at him.

"So sue me! These things have to get across an entire _ocean_, Knucklehead, and then they gotta come all the way back again!"

They waited another half an hour.

"Mebbe we could find a boat," Bait suggested, not very hopefully. Sonic stopped zooming back and forth to glare at him, arms folded.

"D'you see any life jackets, Bait?"

"Uh. No?"

"Correct. And no life jackets means there's no way in hell I'm getting on _any_ boat even if we could find one!"

"I didn't know you had a phobia of oil as well as water, Sonic," Knuckles said coolly.

"If it's liquid and I can drown in it, I don't like it," Sonic retorted.

Another half an hour went by.

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with...O."

"Oil."

"Nope."

"Ocean."

"Yeah. Your go."

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with...O."

"Ocean."

"Nope."

"Oil."

"Yeah. Your go."

Sitting with his legs drawn up to his chest, resting his arms on them and his chin on his arms in a position that was strangely Tailsesque, Knuckles scowled at the black liquid just below them. Sonic and Bait had been playing I-Spy for the past twenty minutes, ever since Knuckles had finally snapped and banned their joint rendition of Ten Million Green Bottles. So far the most original idea either of them had been able to come up with had been P for platform, which might have raised the echidna's spirits considerably had Bait not been referring to the platform they were currently sitting on.

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with...S."

"Sea."

"Nope."

"Sun."

"Nope."

"Sky."

"Nope."

"Sonic?" Knuckles interjected. Bait glanced at him.

"Yeah. Your go, mister."

"I wasn't joining in your little game, kid. I just wanted to tell Sonic that I can see something moving out there."

Sonic was at his side in an instant. "Yeah? What?"

"I think it's the platforms. There's a few of them, and they're all heading this way."

The hedgehog shook his head. "Someone really needs to get the Mobian transport system sorted. I mean, jeez, how often does this happen? You wait hours for a platform and nothing happens, then all of a sudden three of 'em come along at once!"

"I doubt they considered the possibility that anyone would be stupid or insane enough to actually _choose_ to come through here."

"Yeah. Weird, when you think about it. I mean, appearances notwithstanding, this Zone's been voted one of the healthiest on the West Continent. Hardly any germs or bacteria around."

"Yeah. I guess even germs and bacteria have standards, huh Sonic? Must be why you've hardly ever been sick in your life."

"Get blunted, Knucklehead," Sonic said easily, leaping nimbly onto the first platform that reached them, Knuckles and Bait close behind. The platform barely even quivered as it continued its placid journey along its track, although Knuckles and Bait both noticed that Sonic was avoiding looking down at the thick oil beneath them.

"How long're we gonna be on this thing, mister?" Bait asked.

"At least a couple hours," Sonic said, from where he was now sitting with legs stretched out in front of him and back propped against the central strut, hands laced behind his head and eyes closed. "I advise you to get comfy. Catch some rays."

Bait glanced at Knuckles, who was staring moodily in the direction of travel and not speaking to anyone, then sat down next to Sonic, kicking his legs over the side of the platform.

Contrary to Sonic's prediction, a full three hours had passed in silence before Knuckles finally said, "I think I see it."

"Hmm...wha?" Sonic, who had been napping for at least two and a half of those three hours, opened one eye the barest crack, then yawned widely. "See wha', Knux?"

"The other side."

"Oh...righ'..." Sonic closed the eye again.

Knuckles started counting silently. He'd reached seven when Sonic snapped both eyes open again and leapt to his feet, no longer sleepy.

"Where?" he said eagerly.

"Over there." Knuckles pointed to where a stationary platform was just visible in the fading light. "Even if it's not what we want, I say we get off anyway. I don't like the idea of sleeping on this thing; we might well end up going round two or three times before we wake up again."

"Yeah, you're right. Hey Bait!"

Bait, who had also been dozing, jerked awake.

"I dint do it!" he said, before realising where he was. "Huh? Whassgoinon?"

"Time to get off," Sonic said cheerfully, reaching down to pull the jackal to his feet and watching their destination grow steadily closer.

They were about half a mile away from the other platform when it happened. There was a shudder, a screech of machinery grinding that set the trio's teeth on edge and the transportation platform jerked to an abrupt stop, swinging crazily.

"What was that?" Sonic demanded, grabbing the central strut for support.

"I don't know," Knuckles said edgily, "but I don't like it." He looked around. "We're almost at the other side though. We could probably run it from here."

"You think so?" Sonic said. "Great. After you."

"Mister?" Bait looked up at Sonic. "Mister, runnin's gotta be worth a try. I mean, what else can we do?"

"I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but I agree with him," Knuckles said.

"Yeah, but why'd the platform stop?" Sonic demanded, of no one in particular.

"I don't know," Knuckles said, a little too patiently. "But I bet Raker could enlighten you."

Sonic snorted. "Yeah. Nice try, Knux. Raker ain't here; we left him back in Aquatic Ruin."

The echidna took hold of Sonic by the shoulders and physically turned him to face the platform they were trying to get to. "Well, Sonic, maybe you should tell him that."

Raker smiled pleasantly at them. "Good evening, Sonic. I thought I might find you here. Let's have a little _talk_, shall we?"

Sonic glanced at the other two. "What do you think?"

"I think we have no choice but to listen to him," Knuckles said bitingly. "We're caught between a rock and a hard place."

"I survived eight Robotnik-caused cave ins in the Mystic Cave Zone, Knucklehead; don't talk to me about being between rocks and hard places!" Sonic retorted, although he could see what the echidna meant about their current situation. On one side, oil, and even Sonic would be hard pushed to run across an entire ocean of oil without eventually sinking. On the other, Raker, smirking as he stood on the only safe place.

"Looks like we're at something of an impasse, doesn't it?"

"You destroyed the machinery," Sonic said suddenly. Raker's smirk broadened.

"Of course I did. I had to find some way of getting you to listen to what I have to say. Otherwise how are you going to agree to my terms?"

"And exactly which terms would these be, Raker?" Sonic said, his voice deadly quiet. Next to him, Bait edged away from Raker, eyes huge.

"Simple. You want your little brother back and I want mine. In such a case, I think the easiest and best thing would be for us to cooperate."

"You have Tails?" Knuckles demanded.

"No, but I can tell you where to go."

"And I can tell _you_ where to go as well," Sonic said, biting off each word at the end. "D'you wanna go first, or shall I?"

Raker spread his hands out to the side. "You don't have to take my word for it, Sonic. I'll lead you right to the place. You can chain me up and take me as your prisoner if it makes you feel more confident. When you have Tails back with you, then – and only then – I'll take Bait and leave you alone." He smiled. "After all, family is family."

Sonic hesitated. "Give us a minute to discuss it."

Raker nodded affably. "By all means. Just not too long a minute; I imagine people are coming to find out what caused the platforms to break down even as we speak."

"It'll take as long as it takes, Raker, and if they come along and arrest you we'll be no worse off than we were before," Sonic said frankly.

The three of them went into a huddle.

"Mister." Bait stared at Sonic apprehensively. "Mister...are you gonna agree?"

Sonic looked at the jackal and saw the naked fear in his eyes. He saw something else too; the belief Bait had in his own status as a permanent underdog, and one which would be tossed out as soon as he'd outlived his usefulness.

"We're not going to trade you in for Tails, Bait," Sonic stated.

"We're not?" Knuckles said. "Great. Some discussion this is, Sonic. Glad you're here to dictate things, else we'd never make any decisions."

"If I did this, and if Raker played straight with us – which I doubt in itself – every time I looked at Tails I'd see Bait looking back at me," Sonic said quietly. "Yeah, I'd lay odds that Tails might well be being tortured right now, and I'd like nothing more than to get him out tomorrow. But if the price for that is to hand over another kid to undergo the same treatment, literally trading one torture victim for another...then no." He shook his head. "If that's the price, then it's too high, and I think you know that as well as I do, Knuckles."

"Mister, if you don't agree he'll kill you an' take me anyway, if he dunt kill me too," Bait said. "How're you gonna save Tails when you're dead? You wanna get him out, right? This is prob'ly the easiest way." He glanced away. "Mebbe I c'n run away again," Sonic heard him mumble.

"I'm with Sonic," Knuckles said. "This is a fool's bargain he's offering us. Like as not he'll take the kid and run."

Bait looked up at Knuckles. "Mister, don't _you_ wanna get your buddy out?"

Sonic held his breath. If Knuckles agreed, if he went along with Raker...well, then it was damn likely that only two of the three people standing on the platform would get off it.

"Yeah," Knuckles said very quietly. "Yeah, I want to get Tails out. And when he's out, and when he looks me in the eyes and asks me exactly how I did it, I want to be able to look back."

A slow grin spread across Sonic's face and he clapped Knuckles on the shoulder.

"Knew you wouldn't let us down, Knucklehead!"

Bait shook his head. "You're nuts, mister. You're both as nuts as each other."

"What, you've only just figured that out?" Sonic said lightly. "C'mon kid; least Raker hasn't got that hypothetical flamethrower."

"Yeah, and that unnerves me more than if he had," Knuckles cut in. "He wouldn't have stopped us if he didn't have some kind of plan. I say we go now. Bait, get off the platform and start running."

"That stuff—" Bait began.

"It'll hold you, as long as you keep moving. Get off, kid. Get off and _run_."

"You want me to run t'wards Raker? Uh uh, no way mister!" Bait backed off until he collided with Sonic. Jumping, he spun around, staring from one to the other wide-eyed. "He'll murder me!"

"He won't," Sonic said. Bait shook his head.

"I know you think he ain't that mad, mister, but he _is_. He don't care how many people he kills or hurts long's he gets what he wants at the end of it. Fam'ly dunt mean _nothin_' to him unless he's gonna profit by it somehow. He don't even care if he dies himself jus' so long's he gets revenge or whatever he wants."

"He won't murder you, Bait, because I'm not going to let that happen," Sonic said simply. "Me and Knux here ought to be more than a match for one crazy jackal, right Knux?"

"Yeah," Knuckles said, his manner a lot less gracious than Sonic. "Yeah, that's right."

Bait shook his head again, frantically this time.

"Mister, you ain't _listenin_' to me! Yeah, he's mad, but that dunt mean he's _stupid_. He's smart, mister, real smart."

"He'll have to be."

"Isn't anyone _listening_ to me?" Knuckles demanded furiously. "We have to get off this platform _now_, while we still can!"

"Knuckles, what—" Sonic began, glancing at the echidna in irritation. Knuckles cut him off with a curt nod in Raker's direction.

Raker smiled pleasantly. "I told you, nobody makes a fool of me and gets away with it." Turning slightly sideways, he let Sonic see what Knuckles had already seen; the instruments of their deaths. Not a gun, not a hi-tech weapon or even a remote control for some kind of badnik.

Just a plain old everyday box of matches.

Until that moment, Sonic had never fully understood what Bait had been trying to tell him, had chalked the jackal's fear of Raker up to nothing more than bad memories. Now though...

"Are you _crazy_?" Sonic all but shrieked at the jackal. Behind him, Knuckles and Bait jumped and hit the oil slicks running. Raker's smile broadened as he struck a match, turning it this way and that as he regarded the dancing flame.

"Maybe." He shook his head. "You didn't _really_ think I'd let you go, did you? Other people may be blinded by a few lucky breaks, Sonic, but not me. You stole my brother. You turned him into a traitor."

"You did that yourself!" Sonic shouted back. The longer he could keep Raker talking, the better chance Knuckles and Bait had of escaping the oil slick unscathed.

"Mister!" That was Bait himself. Sonic risked glancing at them to see that the jackal and Knuckles were about halfway and up to their ankles in oil. "Mister, c'mon!"

Sonic looked back at Raker and felt his face split in an insincere smile.

"Well, it's been great, but I gotta speed." Leaping off the platform, he landed on the surface of the oil and ran for his life. "See ya!"

At which point Raker dropped the match and the whole world turned to fire.

**Okay, another (pretty long :P) chapter completed. If you read, please review:)**


	11. The Price of Honour

**Kj: (grins) Okay, okay, here. It's updated :P**

**Toboe16: (blushes) Thanks...and yep, you do indeed have to wait, although not too long ;)**

**PyroHedgehog4Ever: (happy smile) Wow...four 'ness' words in one review...like you said, that's gotta be a record :P As for the update...is this soon enough for you? ;)**

**Secretsniper: Hee hee, thanks ;D Yeah, I do like my cliffhangers; like I say, what's a good story without them? ;) **

**SaffraEchidna: (smiles) Thanks; I'm glad you enjoyed it :)**

**Ri2: (smiles) Thanks. Uh...well, in Sonic and the others' case, I thought it was pretty much a given that they'd have something to drink as well as eat when they pause for meals :P In Tails' case...read on ;)**

**Awdures: Thanks, I'll try :) It's easier writing longer chapters for Sonic, purely 'cause there are more characters to play with :P I'm glad you like the OCs as well :P**

**Asher Tye: That's kinda the idea :P And no, it probably wasn't too smart of Raker to do something like that, but then he's not the sanest of people...he probably wouldn't think these things through ;)**

**FriedBrickWall: Yeah...that's one way of putting it :P**

**Treasurehunter:) Thanks**

Tails wasn't stupid enough to try to run; he was surrounded and there was nowhere he could go except back to the prison, and he didn't think the overseers would mind that.

"What is this?" one of them demanded, pointing to the first book, the one open at the page with the map.

Tails shrugged. "Just a picture."

"It looks like a map."

Tails shrugged again. "You say so."

He sensed, rather than saw, someone else moving around to stand behind him, looking over his shoulder.

"What are you doing here?" The overseer who was speaking – the one Tails had privately dubbed Scarface, since he thought that would be what everyone else called him once the horrific bites healed – did so with a distasteful expression, as though he was soiling himself irreparably by conversing with a slave.

Tails scowled at him. If he was going to be beaten anyway, he wanted to at least deserve it. "I _was_ sleeping. Didn't your mother ever tell you it's impolite to wake someone?"

The whip lashed across his shoulders again and he stifled an urge to yelp. Insubordination – even speaking – was something that he knew full well would never, ever be tolerated.

Scarface lunged and caught hold of Tails' jaw in a way that Sonic had often used either to get the fox's attention or, when they'd first met, to encourage him to open up a little. There was none of the tenderness in Scarface's hands that Tails was used to feeling in Sonic's, though; instead, he could feel the bones of his jaw grinding together under the pressure. Scarface stared hard at him for a couple of minutes, eyes narrowed in cold anger, then abruptly released his hold to backhand Tails savagely across the face, spinning the fox round and knocking him to the floor, then hauling him upright and shoving him towards the open book.

"Read it!"

Tails glanced around, then reluctantly picked up the book and cleared his throat.

"Gidja nomoh-con abbus dee-yee Ensel Gubble bee lan gon," he said obediently, while offering up a silent, heartfelt apology to Knuckles for his pronunciation, or lack thereof. He knew most letters were pronounced differently in Sagayan to Mobian – especially the vowels – but he had no idea what that difference was. "Yar yee garran—"

"Enough!" Another blow, not with a whip but a fist, slammed into the side of Tails' head, jarring his torn ear and setting off fireworks in his skull, knocking him to the floor. "We meant for you to read it in Mobian!"

"Hey, you didn't specify," Tails said. None of them ever knew how much it cost him to keep his voice that carefree. That had been one of Sonic's lines, hadn't it...or...Knuckles? Tails couldn't remember, and for some reason that bothered him.

"Read it in Mobian."

"Can't," Tails lied. "I don't know Sagayan."

"Don't lie!" Scarface seized him by the scruff of the neck and hauled him upright, suspending him in midair. "You know, or how else would you know what language it is?"

"Lucky guess! Now let me _go_!" Tails pretended to consider. "Or at least turn me round. I don't wanna stare at your ugly face the whole time."

This time the fist crashed into his stomach, hard, and Tails retched. There was nothing in his gut to come up except bile and stomach acid, but he still managed to make sure that Scarface got the worst of it. Tails got his wish then; the overseer opened his hand with a disgusted oath and backed off, staring at the rancid juices soaking his chest. The sight made the fox grin, and then they really laid into him.

Tails went limp – like most people down there who were living with pain on a daily basis, he'd learned very quickly that it hurt far less when you relaxed and let your body absorb the lashes – and brought his arms up to protect his face, especially his tender ear.

The last thing Tails saw before he blacked out was the map pointing the way to Walin Yapai. Memory kicked in and he remembered; Yapai was the Sagayan word for chaos.

_Walin Yapai...the Chaos Caves..._

He knew what they were digging for now. Oh man, did he know. His last conscious thought was _I'm not gonna tell not gonna tell not gonna tell_

Then everything went dark.

* * *

When Tails came round, he had been put face down on a soft couch. A collar and chain had been fastened around his neck, not quite tightly enough to cut off his air supply but tight enough so he could never ignore it. The other end of the chain was fastened to a ring in the wall and long enough to allow him basic changes in position, but nothing more. 

"No. _No_!" Panic, real panic, exploded in him and he fought to escape, yanking uselessly on the chain, ignoring the pain in every part of his body.

"Hey, easy there little guy, nobody's gonna hurt you."

Tails froze rigid, for a different reason this time. That had been the very first thing Sonic had ever said to him, before they'd become friends. Tails had been hiding at the top of a coconut palm at the time, a reaction caused more by shyness than fear.

A gecko, one who Tails immediately dubbed "One-Eye" for obvious reasons, was seated on the other side of a desk that was so cluttered with papers and books that the fox had no idea how the guy managed to find anything.

"Who're _you_?" Tails demanded belligerently. The reptile smiled.

"Never mind that now. You must be hungry. Ice cream?"

Tails stared stonily ahead. "I'm allergic to ice cream. You gimme that stuff an' I'll probably die an' then you'll be short one slave." He wasn't allergic – at least, not in the medical sense – but he'd never been able to eat it ever since contracting a bout of salmonella from a mostly melted portion when he'd been four and a half years old. Besides, how much of a little kid did they think he was, to be made happy and friends with for a mere bowl of ice cream?

"A drink, then." One-Eye poured out a glass of water and pushed it carefully over to him. For a moment Tails sorely wanted to throw it back in his face, then common sense intervened and he took a careful sip. He hadn't had a proper drink since being thrown into that prison and had even been so desperate as to lick the walls for moisture. If the echidna logs hadn't had every page laminated (and Tails had had no idea they'd been so advanced, even back then) the dampness of the caves meant that very likely he wouldn't have been able to open the books, much less read them.

He took another mouthful, swallowing carefully. His throat hurt – not much, but a little – and he wondered dully if he was coming down with something.

"Hungry?" One-Eye said again.

"No." Tails was famished as it happened, but he could go without food a little longer. Water though...that was another matter, and he sipped at the glass again. They did give you water down there – common sense dictated that slaves who were half dead through dehydration were slaves who weren't likely to be much good at their job – but most of it was silty, filled with grit and dust.

"As you like." One-Eye continued to regard him almost benignly, and Tails felt a little afraid. He almost wished they'd whip him again; at least there he knew what to expect, what was coming. Fear of the unknown punishment was ten times worse than any beating they could have dished out.

"You know, you really gave us quite a shock when you disappeared," One-Eye added.

"I bet I did," Tails muttered sullenly. He knew full well that shock hadn't been for the reasons One-Eye would like him to believe; it had been purely because they couldn't have any slave escaping, could they? The last thing they wanted was for anyone to come along and find their sick little operations.

One-Eye moved suddenly and Tails stiffened, unable to help himself. It seemed that punishment – at least, physical punishment – wasn't what One-Eye had in mind, however; he simply lifted a book, opened it and pushed it towards Tails.

The fox looked down at it and felt his blood run cold. The echidna log, the one he'd translated, stared up at him.

_See?_ it seemed to be saying. _See what you started? You were home free; why couldn't you have just kept digging and left me behind?_

Tails winced inwardly. That was the worst part of it; the fact that he'd been so close to freedom and yet he'd let himself get sidetracked. How could he have done it? _How_? If he'd kept digging, he'd probably have found the tunnels the echidnas had used and been safely back on Angel Island by now.

"Tell us what it says," One-Eye said pleasantly.

Tails looked up at him, eyes dark with hatred. "No."

He expected rage, fury, but not that smile, and he began to feel very afraid. Sonic had once told him that nobody smiled like that all the time unless they were insane, or sitting on the mother of all weapons. Either way, he didn't much like it.

"I didn't expect you to cooperate," One-Eye told him, "although you must be very clever to have translated this with no prior knowledge of the language."

Tails wasn't going to be caught that easily. "Anyone with half a brain could have done that."

"Perhaps, but – with all due respect – possibly not one so young." One-Eye shook his head. "I understand that you may be unduly prejudiced towards us—"

"Yeah," Tails muttered. "Whips an' chains aren't a good way to make friends."

"But necessary." One-Eye's smile broadened at Tails' surprised expression. "Ah, you expected me to deny it? How can I, when you yourself have personal experience? You seem determined to insult my intelligence with every breath – although I personally have never hurt you – but I'm not stupid enough to insult yours. I'm asking you to be reasonable; translate this for us, and you can go."

"Go where? Back to the tunnels to be your punching bag? Big deal."

One-Eye shook his head. "Oh no. I mean you can _go_." To illustrate the point, he turned to pull open the curtains behind him, revealing a large window which looked out into a garden of some kind. The warmth of the sun coupled with the sight of the lush vegetation was intoxicating and Tails moaned once, low down in his throat.

One-Eye and the overseer who had brought Tails there exchanged knowing looks, then One-Eye pulled the curtain shut again.

"All we want you to do is translate this entry for us." One-Eye was doing his best to make his voice coaxing and failing miserably; he and his colleagues were more used to beating cooperation out of people than encouraging it out of them. "This entry, all the other entries relating to the ancient caves and the directions mentioned on the map, and we'll let you leave."

"You want to find the Chaos Caves," Tails said, his words slurred slightly through both pain and desire for the world outside.

"Of course. We want to find them to try and put a stop to all the pain and suffering in the world."

"Most of that pain and suffering is in those tunnels," Tails answered flatly. One-Eye's friendly, encouraging smile slipped a couple of notches before being firmly hooked back onto its owner's lips.

"The people you saw there are criminals, forced to work as payment for terrible crimes. Your presence was a...mistake, that's all. We're willing to overlook it and let you go, if you just do that one small thing for us."

Tails was obstinately silent.

"We realise there are a lot of texts," One-Eye went on, mistaking – possibly innocently – Tails' silence for his being daunted at the magnitude of such a task. "We don't want all translated, just the ones pertaining to the Chaos Caves. Needless to say, you would have regular meals and my colleagues would be ordered to leave you to work at your own pace. And when you've completed this task, you would be allowed to go free."

Free! What a wonderful word that was, Tails thought fervently. Free to wander about wherever he pleased, free to eat and drink what he wanted, when he wanted, free to sleep as much as he desired, free to do whatever took his fancy. Free to go back to Angel Island and see Knuckles again. And all he had to do was tell them where to find the Chaos Caves. Tails had no doubt that they'd keep their word to him; the amount of power they could obtain from the gems in those caves was worth the freedom of one kid. Hell, they'd probably let him take a couple of others with him as well. He could be free. No more tunnels, no more labour, no more whips...even the thought of that was so desirable it made his head spin.

Tails drew in a deep, shuddering breath, hoped like hell he was making the right choice, then raised his head to look One-Eye squarely in his smiling face and said clearly, "No."

The smile dropped another few notches, and this time One-Eye didn't manage to pull it back.

"What did you say?" he said carefully.

"I said no. I'd rather live here the rest of my life than help you do _anything_," Tails said boldly, but his voice quavered slightly. Never to see the sun again, never to see the sky...never to see Knuckles or Sonic...

He firmed his jaw determinedly. Maybe they'd find the Chaos Caves, but he wouldn't help them. If they got hold of the power offered...Tails wasn't sure even Knuckles could stop them enslaving the rest of Mobius, if they chose. He wouldn't be the one to give that to them. He _wouldn't_!

One-Eye glanced over Tails' shoulder at the overseer and nodded, and the whip sliced down again.

"Now will you help us?" One-Eye asked placidly.

"No!" Tails grated.

Another nod. Another red-hot pain across his back.

"Now?"

"No!"

Nod. Slash.

"How about now?"

Tails no longer trusted himself to open his mouth without screaming in pain, and so he contented himself with a vigorous shake of the head. One-Eye sighed.

"You've proved you're clever, but you don't seem to be very intelligent. The one behind you asked for a far harsher punishment than the one that was meted out for your attack on him—"

"I never attacked him!"

Another, lighter blow, this one for speaking out of turn, Tails knew. He also knew that it would do no good to plead his case; Scarface had obviously picked him as a scapegoat. He'd seen that happen to other slaves; the overseers blamed them for everything, using them as a kind of scratching post and punchbag. Tails was sure nobody would ever get to the bottom of who had really attacked Scarface; he'd pointed the finger at the fox and so the fox would suffer the consequences.

"There are witnesses to say you did," One-Eye said complacently.

Witnesses. Tails knew that trick too. Bribe an overseer with cash, half a dozen slaves with extra food and they'd serve as witnesses to say that black was white.

"As I was saying," One-Eye continued, "a harsher punishment was devised for you. I refused to let it go through, because even we should have limits. You would be wise to reconsider your decision, before I decide to reconsider _mine_." As though to prove his point, he sliced one hand down through the air and Tails felt the pain of a double blow, intensifying as the whip tore the crusts off older injuries.

The fox looked up, panting, but with a savage triumph in his eyes.

"Yeah, you go ahead! You go ahead an' beat me to death, 'cause then you'll never know about it. You want to get to the Chaos Caves, well, you're gonna have to do it the hard way 'cause I'm not gonna help you. You'll kill or enslave everyone! Even Robotnik's not as bad as you are; at least he builds mechanical slaves instead of taking real live people!" Tails said stridently, conveniently forgetting to mention that this was only because mechanical slaves didn't need to eat or drink, didn't need to rest and most importantly, never, ever questioned their master's authority.

Well, almost never. Tails supposed that Omega's attempting to destroy Robotnik and everything he'd ever touched probably counted as questioning his master's authority, but then Omega was only one out of...how many?

"Would you rather Robotnik take the powers?"

"Yeah!" Tails said defiantly. "Least I know what he'd do with 'em, an' anyway, Knuckles'll stop him doing anything real bad!"

"Knuckles?" One-Eye looked fully interested now and Tails could have kicked himself. "This Knuckles may think that he or she can stop Robotnik, but if he gets the power of the Chaos Caves behind him, no force on Mobius will accomplish that."

"Chaos Caves?" Tails snorted. "Robuttnik may have the Chaos Caves, but Knux has the Master Emerald." Then he snapped his mouth shut, but it was too late; the words were out.

"The Master Emerald?" One-Eye stretched out a hand and halted the whip in midair. "I was under the impression that only the echidnas knew of such a thing."

"You know, and you're no way an echidna," Tails said as rudely as he could.

"That's very true; no race with any semblance of intelligence would agree to simply guarding such a powerful gem. It's no wonder they all died out." One-Eye considered and his single yellow orb narrowed. "Or did they? Perhaps they simply...went away."

Tails' mind worked frantically, searching for a way to make up for his colossal slip.

"Yeah, 'sright," he said. "The echidnas aren't dead, just hiding, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. I've visited the Floating Island, I've seen what they're doing. There's hundreds – no, _millions_ of echidnas – an entire _army_ massing for an attack on anyone trying to get to the caves! They put up loads of security measures and...and they already know what you're doing and what you're up to. I triggered them when I tunnelled to the library and they'll come in...uh...in twenty four hours unless you let me go now to convince 'em not to hurt you."

"Mmm." One-Eye looked more amused than threatened. "But like you yourself said, you have no reason to help us, due to that minor misunderstanding."

"_Minor_ understanding?" Tails yelped. "You beat me, broke my tail an' prob'ly a load of ribs as well, let those guys down there chew on me as and when they want and you call that a _minor_ misunderstanding?"

"Yes," One-Eye said complacently. "If I were you, I would try to avoid a major one. Once you're out, what's to stop you from bringing these echidnas here?"

"They don't take orders from someone like me."

"If that's the case, then how could you hope to stop this alleged attack?"

Tails opened and shut his mouth a couple of times, then said, "'Cause _one_ of 'em'll listen to me an' he'll persuade the others!"

"And why would you do this, anyway?" One-Eye said, toying absently with an ornament on his desk, lifting one metal ball and letting it swing against the others, staring into the resultant motions as if hypnotised. "I feel you would be of more use to us as a hostage than a negotiator, if it does come to war with the echidnas."

Tails floundered, feeling the rug start to slide from under him. "Yeah, well...they won't...they won't waste their time jus' coming to rescue me."

The single yellow eye narrowed. "I wonder." One-Eye looked at the overseer. "Take him back down. Put him in a minor tunnel and keep him chained to the wall at all times. I doubt anyone's looking for him – the people we got him from said he had no family or friends – but just in case, I want him well hidden. The thought of rescue upsets the others; last time it happened productivity dropped by over forty percent." He looked back at Tails. "However, I'm not an evil person and so I will give you one more chance to be reasonable. You're fond of this Knuckles character, anyone can tell that by the way you looked when you mentioned his name."

Tails cringed in shame. Great. So much for playing the bold warrior, to slip up like that.

"You must miss him very much. I'm sure he probably misses you. Do what we ask and you can go home. Don't you want to see your friend Knuckles again?"

"Yeah," Tails mumbled brokenly. "Yeah, I do want to see him again." He drew in another long breath and fixed a baleful stare on the person in front of him. "And I'm gonna do that without making deals with slaver _pretmans_ like you 'cause I'd rather stay down here than go back an' make him ashamed of me. I'm not gonna translate any texts for you, I'm not gonna tell you how to get to the Chaos Caves and get all that power, an' I don't care if I never get out of here, I'll _never_ tell you what you wanna know! Never, never, _never_!"

They beat him into unconsciousness again.

**Okay, so that's another chapter done(weg) If you read, please review :)**


	12. Scrap Brain Zone

**Okay, so I finally finished Sonic Heroes PC with all four teams, all seven Chaos Emeralds and Metal Overlord :D and that's put me in a Sonic mood :P So's playing _Sonic Adventure DX_...I think I almost prefer that to _Sonic Heroes_ :S Witness the reason for this late update; I've been playing in the Chao Gardens :P Still can't get 'em to breed though.**

**SaffraEchidna: I'm sure you're right :P Would it help if I said the Tails-torturing is very nearly over? ;)**

**PyroHedgehog4Ever: Thanks...I'm glad someone's mentioned the language; working out that journal entry took two full days :P And...well, you want an update, so here ;)**

**Kj: Okay, it's updated :P**

**Toboe16: (sniffles) I agree (_Tails: I gotta admit, the roles I play in your stuff do tend to get me a lot of sympathy_)**

**Treasurehunter: (glomps back) Hee hee, thanks :P (_Tails: "Glomps cast"? Does that include the ones who were beating the crap outta me!_) No, Tails, I'm sure it doesn't :P**

**XTailsX: Heh, no worries; I love all reviews no matter when they arrive ;) The language...it was inspired partly by Tok Pisin and partly by Wagiman (which involved a lot of looking things up in both online dictionaries most of the time) but a lot of the words were changed and altered (and eighty percent of the time just plain invented :P) by yours truly. A Sagayan dictionary...ooh, now that is a tempting thought :P I'm thinking of setting up a Sonic site for mine and others' fics and artwork, maybe I can include it there ;)**

**Matri90: Thanks; glad you're enjoying it :)**

**Ness: (smiles) Thanks :)**

**Ri2: Heh...yep, course I explained the water thing :P It was a fair question after all ;)**

**FriedBrickWall: 100th reviewer WOOT! And yeah, you're absolutely right...Sonic and Knuckles are probably not gonna be too happy when they find Tails again ;) (_Knuckles: That is, if we ever get out of this place_)**

**Asher Tye: Intellect dwarfed by ego...oh man, I love that:D Pretty accurate as well :P And...well, is this update soon enough? ;)**

**Rivic: (blushes) Thanks. You wanna see Shadow? (shrugs) Okay. I can't make any promises but I'll do what I can ;)**

**Silentsniper: Well, maybe you're right and maybe you're wrong; you'll just have to wait and find out ;)**

_Guardian's Log no. 11478_

_In the words of the legendary echidna philosopher Olkaman, OUCH. _

_I don't know where we are or how we got here and I'm in too much pain to care._

_Oh alright, for the sake of the record, I'll update! Sonic, Bait and I were crossing Oil Ocean and Raker dropped a match onto the oil. Bait was right; Raker really is insane._

_--Knuckles the Echidna_

_My Memoirs by Me_

_Oh man. I should've listened to Bait. He tried to warn me about Raker and I thought he was exaggerating. _

_I was wrong. Very wrong._

_Bottom line, Raker tried to burn us all alive. He didn't succeed (obviously, else how would I be writing this?) but I don't know how we survived. I don't even know if Raker did._

_--Sonic the Hedgehog_

_Bait's Jurnal_

_Ake all over. Why arent I ded?_

_--Bait the Jakkel_

Sonic looked around the room. It was spacious, clean and airy, with the scent of freshly picked flowers wafting through the air from where they'd been placed on just about every available surface.

_Am I in hospital_? He supposed that would account for the flowers, but this place didn't have the clinical feel Sonic associated with such places.

Reaching up, he felt a gauze pad taped to his face and winced, remembering. Oil Ocean Zone...the fire...Raker...

Abruptly he sat up, then winced and half fell back as dizziness whirled through his head. Closing his eyes against the pain, he dimly heard the door open and close.

"Knux?" Sonic turned his head carefully in the direction of the sound but didn't dare risk opening his eyes again yet. "Knux, that you?"

"No." An arm slid around his shoulders, supporting him and helping him sit up, and a cup filled with some strong smelling liquid was placed to his mouth. "Drink."

Too dazed to disobey, Sonic gulped down the mixture and his face contorted.

"Oh man, that's _foul_!" he said, or tried to before his body was racked by a spasm of violent choking. Something vile blew into his mouth from his lungs and he half turned to vomit up a surprisingly large amount of blackened phlegm.

"I know, but you inhaled a hell of a lot of smoke. This'll help clear it." There was the sound of liquid being poured and the cup was returned to Sonic's lips. "Here."

Sonic frowned slightly. He knew that voice, had heard it before somewhere...

"Do I _have_ to?"

"Yeah." The cup was pushed between the hedgehog's lips and its contents practically tipped down his throat. Sonic swallowed – it was that or choke – and coughed up another thick wad of phlegm. Breathing did seem a little easier now.

"How bad is it?" he said weakly.

His carer hesitated, then heaved a long sigh. "Well...you got a hard choice ahead of you, Sonic; we can either save you or the baby."

Sonic's eyes snapped open. He'd placed that voice now, would have placed it earlier if he hadn't been so dazed—

"_Mighty_?" Sonic stared at the grinning armadillo. "Oh man, am I ever glad to see you! What the hell happened back there? Where—" he swallowed. "The others, are they..."

"Fine," Mighty cut across. "They're both fine. At least, Knux is and your little bodyguard will be as soon as I get some of this down him." He poured more of the liquid into the cup and held it out to Sonic, who grimaced, swallowed it and proceeded to throw up less phlegm than before.

"Damn, Might, just how much more of this stuff I gotta drink?" he managed weakly.

"As much as it takes for me to hear clear lungs in you. Knuckles has already had his. The jackal won't take anything I give him unless you tell him it's not gonna poison him, so finish this stuff and let me go take care of him."

It took another three cupfuls before Sonic's lungs were finally clear, and by then he was too exhausted to do anything other than collapse back onto the bed.

"What happened?" he said again.

"The Chaotix were in Oil Ocean Zone doing some spy work for an insurance company when the flames went up. We started to investigate and almost got flattened by a jackal."

"Raker," Sonic muttered.

"He wouldn't tell us his name," Mighty said with a shrug. "All we could get out of him was that you were burning to death and we had to help you. Charmy managed to fly us clear before—" He broke off.

"Before what?" Sonic said. "Did you see another jackal leaving in a hurry?"

Mighty shook his head. "No. We did see a hovercar screaming away though, but we had other things to do besides chase it, namely get you and your two friends out. Knuckles and your new friend weren't too badly off; they managed to get clear before inhaling too much of the smoke. You were the one we were worried about."

"Yeah?" Sonic looked edgy. "Why? What's wrong with me?"

"A few light burns. You managed to run clear before it did too much damage, but the three of you got lungfuls of smoke and fumes. Like I said, you were the worst. Me and the guys brought you here."

"Yeah? Where's here?" Sonic pulled himself upright to open the curtains, looked out and froze as he caught sight of the city beyond. Pristine white buildings lined ice blue conveyor roads on three levels, roads that were flanked and bordered by deep green grass and flowers all the way along on the bottommost of these levels. The windows – at least, all the ones that Sonic could see – were oval and had frames in pale pastel colours. Soft music was playing from somewhere, a tune that Sonic vaguely recognised but couldn't put a name to.

"What _is_ this place?" he said, half awed. He thought he'd been all over Mobius, but he'd never seen a Zone like this one before.

"Scrap Brain."

Sonic choked violently.

"_What_?"

"Scrap Brain," Mighty repeated.

"Scrap Brain?" Sonic echoed.

"Yeah."

"Scrap Brain...as in the ceiling mounted flamethrowers, smog so thick you had to wear a gas mask if you were going outside for more than five seconds and the balistic lightning posts?"

"Yeah, well, they did a little remodelling after you kicked Robotnik out and cleaned up the pollution. A lick of paint, a few plants and new roads and..." Mighty shrugged expressively. "Brand new outlook. This is turning into a pretty upmarket Zone."

"No kidding." City life had never held any attraction for Sonic, but he couldn't help feeling that if he wanted it, this would be the best place to come. "So how'd you get here?"

The armadillo grinned. "The payment Knux gave us for helping him destroy Robotnik's fortress bought a penthouse apartment in the best area of this Zone. Part of it's been converted into official HQ for the CDA, but there's more than enough room left over for you guys, and me. I dropped in for a visit last week."

Sonic stared. "And you're still here? Wow. This place _must_ have something special; usually you gotta move every day, even if it's just two feet." He glanced around as the door slid open again.

"You're awake!" Bait stood there, staring at him. "I thought you was gonna sleep forever!"

"You're not the only one," Mighty murmured very softly. Sonic threw a pillow at the armadillo, then returned his attention to Bait.

"You okay?"

Bait nodded once. "Yeah. Me an' that other guy was dragged to safety by a giant robot, mister. I'm real sorry 'bout...'bout what happened back there."

Sonic shook his head. "No, kid, _I'm_ sorry. I should've listened to you."

The jackal shivered slightly. "He dunt leave nothin' to chance, mister, Raker dunt. When he finds out we ain't dead, he'll on'y wanna finish what he started."

"We'll deal with that when it happens, Bait," Sonic said calmly, although he was secretly very worried. Raker's insane ruthlessness was...well, even Robotnik wasn't as dangerous as the jackal; the doc wanted to conquer the world, not obliterate it. On the other hand, there was nothing to prove that Raker himself had survived the explosion...although Sonic doubted that even Raker would have done something like that without at least planning for his own escape.

"It almost has," Knuckles said from behind Bait. "Sonic, we need to talk. Take a hike, kid."

Bait looked a little hurt, but slunk out obligingly. Sonic shook his head.

"What's he done to upset you now?"

Knuckles glanced outside to make sure Bait wasn't eavesdropping, then closed the door and lowered his voice anyway.

"Raker's alive. Alive and in the city."

"_What_!" Sonic sat bolt upright. "Are you sure?"

"Trust me, Sonic, I don't forget a face. Particularly not that face. He's almost alone though; half his pack died in Oil Ocean and most of the ones left alive abandoned him. He's got two with him. I only know because they've been asking the CDA about us, holding you up as a kidnapper."

"They _what_?"

"You heard. Raker's saying you kidnapped Bait and are holding him to ransom. He's also saying you caused the fire at Oil Ocean, and that charge _isn't_ gonna be so easy to dodge."

"I never!"

"They found the matches in your bag, Sonic. The ones you hid and kept telling everyone in a very loud voice didn't exist?" Knuckles shook his head. "You know, sometimes there is such a thing as being too straightforward for your own good. The CDA are working on getting them to drop the charges, but Raker's been using it to stir up public feeling against you. He's also trying to hire them to track you down; according to Espio they're meeting with him here this afternoon."

Sonic stared at him.

"Does Bait know?"

Knuckles snorted. "Hardly. He hasn't said a word beyond refusing everything the Chaotix offer him on the basis that if you haven't okayed it, it's gotta be poisonous. Instead of working on his honesty, Sonic, why don't you try hammering some of those people skills you keep yammering on about into his head?"

The hedgehog glared at him. "Listen to me, you...you gutcheck; if you think you can do a better job with Bait, you're welcome to try!"

Knuckles folded his arms. "Alright, first of all it's _gujek_; if you're going to insult me in my own language, at least get it right. Secondly, you have to do something about the kid. There's something on his mind, something big, and chances are you're the only one he's gonna talk to."

"You could have tried to get close to him while I was away, Knuckles."

"How many times must we go through this, Sonic? I don't want to get close to him. I want to stay as far away from him as I can after what happened to Tails."

Sonic folded his arms and stared hard at Knuckles. "I could say the same thing about you, Knucklehead. I could say that after you tried to kill me and Tails that time, I don't want you coming along because who's to say you won't kill Tails once you get him alone?"

He barely had enough time to duck before a fist crashed into the wall scant inches above his head. Seizing hold of Knuckles' arm, he glowered at the echidna.

"It's a fair point!"

"It's an entirely different situation and you _know_ it! I was tricked. Have I tried to kill you honestly since then?"

"Well, if you count all the times you've tried to cover your glove in my brains—!"

"Don't be stupid; I've only ever tried to punch you in the head."

"Exactly! Where else do you think I keep my—" Sonic broke off abruptly and scowled. "Oh, very funny!"

"I thought so. Besides, even if I wanted to get close to Bait, I don't think he's too keen on getting close to me. That kid has some serious trust issues."

Sonic sat up warily, ready to duck another fist.

"I don't blame him, Knux, after all that's happened." He shook his head. "Okay, fine. I'll talk to him. I want to find out exactly what happened after we were dragged to safety by—" Sonic froze, then abruptly leapt to his feet and bolted out the door.

Lying on his bed – or at least, the bed that he'd claimed – Bait propped himself up on his elbows and looked out at the city. It was pretty, he supposed, but he was a little nervous being so high up and so – as he perceived – open to attack.

There was the sound of running footsteps followed by the squeal of brakes that went on for a good few seconds before the door crashed open to to admit Sonic, a smoking trail behind him.

"You were dragged to safety by a _what_?"

Aware that he'd screwed up somehow, Bait glanced over at Sonic and scrambled off the bed.

"A robot, mister, honest! A big giant robot. It left soon's we arrived."

The hedgehog stared at him, mouth ajar. "You just..._let_ it take you?"

Bait looked nervous. "Uh, yeah mister. Why shouldn't I?"

"Does the name _Dr Robotnik_ mean anything to you? That thing could have killed you!"

The jackal hesitated before saying, "Well...stayin' where we was would prob'ly've killed me too. Least this way there was still hope. Mister?"

"Yeah?" Sonic said, somewhat resignedly.

"I dunt care how many of your brothers we gotta rescue. I ain't _never_ goin' near Oil Ocean Zone again, and that's a _promise_."

"I hear you, kiddo."

"You couldn't if you wanted to," Knuckles said curtly from behind Sonic. "Oil Ocean's gone."

Sonic swivelled around slowly to stare at him. "_Gone_?"

"Went up in flames, the whole Zone. The CDA told me about it, and I went back to see it for myself while you were asleep. There's nothing but a crater where the ocean was, some charred bits of metal and ashes up to your knees, and several smoking ruins. They're saying that it was so hot at the end even the glass windows melted."

Unnoticed by either of them, Bait cringed.

"Go see for yourself if you don't believe me," Knuckles added. "Hell, it's on all the news channels."

Sonic continued staring, his mind reeling. Gone? An entire Zone, gone? That...surely that wasn't possible? It must be some kind of hideous mistake.

"Maybe I'll check it out," he said abruptly. Bait started to struggle upright.

"I'll come too."

Sonic glanced at him. "No, you stay here and rest." The look in his eyes sharpened as he added, "And if the Chaotix offer you something to eat or drink, take it! They're not trying to kill you and if they were, they wouldn't do it with food!" He turned and sped away, and Knuckles started to follow.

"Mister?"

The echidna closed his eyes and counted to ten, then without parting either his eyelids or his teeth said, "What?"

Bait picked at the tightly made bed. "All them others that was there in that Zone...the people...mister, they all made it out okay, right?"

Knuckles opened his eyes and turned to stare at the jackal. "Did you expect all the people to make it out okay?"

Bait's ears flattened against his skull. "Well...I..."

"One security guard, three perimeter guards and seventeen families made it out okay, if by _okay_ you mean _alive_. There would have been more guards who survived, but most of them were too busy trying to save the people who lived in the centre of the Zone. Most of them were dead before they knew what had hit them. The survivors...well, they've had to spread out and search for new homes. Two of the families and all four guards managed to find lodgings here. The others..." He shrugged. "They'll have to wander, live off the land until they find a Zone where there's spare living quarters."

Bait cringed. "Mister, how many was there to start with? Includin' the ones who made it?"

Knuckles regarded him quietly before saying, "Five hundred security guards, seven hundred and fifty perimeter guards and families...to be honest, I don't know, but given the size of Oil Ocean Zone I'd estimate well over five thousand. That's just families, mind; family members...there must have been at least twelve or fifteen thousand individuals living and working in that Zone. About a hundred of those made it out."

Bait fixed huge eyes on Knuckles and the echidna was startled to see the pain in those orbs.

"Mister...why dint more fam'lies get out?"

"The ones that did were mostly the ones on the very edge of the Zone – although there were one or two from further in who made it – and the ones who had the sense to just run and not pause to grab any belongings. When the Oil Ocean went up, most people tried to put out the flames." Knuckles snorted. "Might as well try to skewer flying insects. The rest – the smart ones – ran for their lives, and some fought the fire and then ran. They might have made it if the wind hadn't picked up. It blew the flames over into one refinery and that went sky-high, igniting all the others. I'm told the blast could be seen from three Zones over...now what?" he added, seeing Bait had twisted away from him and dropped his face into his hands.

"Mister, c'n you ask Sonic to come in an' talk to me?"

"I'm no damn secretary, kid," Knuckles said curtly. "Ask him yourself. Besides, you've just spoken to him."

"Please. Jus' this las' time. Please, mister."

The echidna studied Bait's tortured demeanour, then nodded once. "Alright. But don't start making a habit of this!"

Without waiting for a reply, he spun on his heel and strode away to where Sonic was looking out the window.

"You know, I might wanna retire here," he said as the echidna drew level. Knuckles snorted.

"Way you're going, Sonic, you'll be lucky to hit twenty, never mind seventy. Bait's after another chat with you. Kid's got something on his mind that he didn't mention earlier, something unpleasant I'll bet."

"More anti-Bait feelings, Knux?"

"No, I just saw his expression," Knuckles answered simply. "As for anti-Bait..." He snorted, indicating such a ridiculous statement didn't deserve an answer.

"Starting to grow on you, huh?" Sonic said lightly, grinning. "Forgotten Tails, have you?"

"_Forgotten_?" Knuckles stared at him so coldly that the hedgehog squirmed. "Sonic, it's only because of Tails and the thought of finding him again that I put up with that little creep! So far he's promised to bring us to Tails and so far all he's done is almost get us killed!" He shook his head. "I'm warning you, hedgehog, one more fiasco like the last one and I walk. Personally, I'd say you're the one who's forgotten about him. Didn't take you long to find his replacement, did it?" The echidna looked away, staring out at the city. "Well, _I'll_ look after the kid if you've gotten bored with him. But don't think you can palm Bait off on me as well, Sonic; I'm not running a damn hostel up on the Island!"

Sonic stared back at him, the grin effectively wiped off. "_That's_ what you think? That I only took Bait with us as a replacement for Tails?"

"Didn't you?"

"No I damn well didn't, and I resent the implication! I took him because – as you pointed out – he can take us to Tails and we don't have a damn clue where to start looking! How else are we supposed to find the kid?"

"Yeah?" Knuckles narrowed his eyes. "Is it just me, Sonic, or is he taking us via the scenic route? Because so far we've been through three separate Zones and we're no nearer to finding Tails than we were back on Angel Island!"

"He knows what he's doing, Knucklehead."

"So do I. He's playing you like a cheap fiddle, Sonic, and you're too busy basking in his admiration of you to notice! He wanted to find a new home, didn't he ever tell you that? Did it ever occur to you that he's using us as an escort, that as soon as he finds a place he likes the look of, he'll clear out and leave us?"

"Well, that should make you happy, shouldn't it?" Sonic retorted. "Because you've had some kind of pointless grudge against him ever since we met him!" He was glaring back at Knuckles now, the two of them barely six inches away from each other, both oblivious to who might be listening. "Just what did that jackal ever do to you?"

"He sold my kid brother as a damn _slave_, Sonic, and if he didn't take the money himself he had a hand in it! And I don't call a grudge based on that pointless!"

There was a ringing silence as Knuckles realised what he'd said and shifted his weight awkwardly.

"He sold your _what_?" Sonic said quietly, the tones of one who's stunned rather than angry.

Knuckles looked away, but the words were out and even the Master Emerald couldn't take them back again.

"I meant Tails."

"Might have been what you meant, Knux, but that's not what you _said_." Sonic shook his head, smiling slightly. "Damn, you really _do_ care about the kid, don't you? I thought it was just an act back in Robotnik's fortress, or at least half an act, but I was wrong. You really meant everything you said back there."

"If I didn't mean it, Sonic, why would I have said it? For that matter, if it was just an act, why would I have come with you now?" Knuckles shook his head. "You better get in to see Bait; the kid seemed pretty upset about something."

"He's not the only one." The voice came from a seemingly empty corridor and Sonic frowned slightly.

"What—"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Espio! Quit eavesdropping!"

The chameleon shaded into view, smirking. "As I was saying, your jackal friend isn't the only one who's _pretty upset_."

The humming of wings alerted the trio and they ducked as Charmy zipped over their heads.

"We got a client! We got a client!"

"Yeah? Who?" Knuckles asked.

"Dunno. She didn't give her name. Just told Vector she wanted him to find her Sonic."

Sonic froze. "Uh...did Vector happen to describe this girl at all?"

"Uh huh." Charmy buzzed over to the potted plant, sniffed one flower, kissed three others and watched happily as they unfolded into bloom, then zipped over to grab a chili dog and scarf it down.

"How'd he describe her?" Sonic said, already dreading the answer.

Charmy writhed in indecision.

"We-ell...I don't wanna be _mean_, so I'll jus' tell you it rhymed with clucking cat."

Knuckles snickered quietly. "Three guesses who it is. Forget what I said about Bait; you better go deal with your girlfriend."

"I don't have a girlfriend!"

Espio took out a shuriken and started toying with it. "Well, you better go tell her that before she squeals the place down."

Sonic cringed. "Must I? Can't Knuckles tell her?"

"She won't listen to me, Sonic. C'mon, you've been fighting Robotnik and his machines for four years. How dangerous can one girl be?"

"Is that a trick question?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Espie, where is this person?"

"In reception."

"Ah." Sonic started to edge away. "Well...maybe I should...you know, I feel like a run; you guys can tell Amy I—hey, Knucklehead, let go!"

"Not yet." Knuckles strode through into the large room that had been converted into the CDA's main reception and dumped Sonic squarely on his behind in front of Amy, who blinked.

"Wow." She looked at Espio and Charmy, who had followed. "You guys really work fast."

"Amy..." Sonic clenched his teeth. "Amy, how much longer are you gonna keep stalking me?"

Amy gave him a brilliant smile. "Until you finally give in and agree to marry me!"

"That's not gonna happen."

"Of course it is, silly."

Knuckles stepped forward, flexing his fingers. "Kid, how much longer are you gonna keep living in this dream world?"

Amy eyed him with a mixed expression of contempt, loathing and wariness; last time they'd really met, Knuckles had literally thrown Amy out of the cave.

"Sonic knows me better than _you_ do," she said haughtily. "We're gonna get married, and have lots and lots of kids, not to mention lots of practice in the things you have to do to _get_ lots of kids. Know what I mean, Sonic?" She gazed up at her hero and batted her eyelashes.

"Too much information!" Knuckles protested. Next to him, Sonic had dropped his head into his hands with a groan.

"Amy, in the name of all the Emeralds, why _me_?"

"Why not? You're handsome, you're fast, you're brave, you've saved the world _so_ many times..."

"With all that in mind, I guess I understand what she sees in him," Espio said smoothly.

"Thankyou!" Amy turned to Knuckles with an air of triumph. "See? Someone else believes it's fate, that Sonic and I are destined to be together forever and love and be with each other from now until the end of time!" She clasped her hands together, stars shining in her eyes.

"Although what you see in _her_, I'll never know," Espio added to Sonic, just loud enough for Amy to hear.

"_We – are – NOT – an – item_!" Sonic informed the room through clenched teeth.

"He's just being modest," Amy said happily.

"I...well, I...I never..." Sonic gave up and looked at Knuckles. "_You_ make her understand!"

Knuckles snorted. "I'm an echidna and a Guardian, not a god."

"Knux..."

The echidna sighed. "Alright, fine." He looked at Amy. "You don't love Sonic. You just love his status. You only want to marry him and have his kids so you can say you're Sonic's partner."

"That's a lie!" Amy pulled out her hammer, swinging it menacingly. "I _do_ love him! I've _always_ loved him and one day we _are_ going to be married!"

"Where were you when he was crippled?" Knuckles countered. "You offered to nurse him, Tails told you to stuff it and instead of arguing with him, you couldn't get out of there fast enough! And now he's fully healed and back to his old self, you're suddenly interested in him again? How shallow can you get?"

Amy's mouth opened and closed convulsively for a few seconds, but no sound emerged. Finally she burst out, "I _hate_ you! Just because you're jealous of what we have—"

"What?" Knuckles overrode her. "Jealous of a hounded hero and a star-struck child? If that's your concept of love, I'll pass!"

"Yes, you will! You'll die all alone on that precious island of yours, nobody will be there with you and nobody'll even know you're dead until...until you're _fossilised_! You'll die sad and bitter and alone 'cause you've spent your whole life taking out your sexual frustration on everyone else!"

"Better that than force my attentions on someone who doesn't want them," Knuckles said, his voice now deadly quiet.

"Only you probably _would_ do something like that since you're so alone up there. Or do you manage to sort yourself out?"

Knuckles started towards Amy with open murder in his eyes at that comment, but Sonic got there first. Right hand went to left shoulder and he delivered a backhanded slap that knocked Amy her off her feet.

There was a long, shocked silence. Even Knuckles was completely and utterly stunned; Sonic never, _ever_ used or even threatened physical violence except against Robotnik's minions, and they couldn't feel pain anyway.

Amy got unsteadily to her feet, shaking all over, the clear shape of Sonic's handprint already visible on her face.

"You..." she began.

"I don't hold with hitting people," Sonic said flatly, "but in that case I'll make an exception. You keep saying we're an item, that I'm your boyfriend, well, fine. I'll play along with that; you're dumped."

The look on Amy's face was so stricken that Knuckles could almost have found it in himself to feel sorry for her, if she hadn't made those comments about him.

"But...but _why_?"

"Because you insulted my friend," Sonic said coldly, and then couldn't resist adding, "and Knuckles as well."

"You're a riot, hedgehog."

"Insult or not," Espio cut in, "you owe us two hundred and fifty Mobiums."

Amy glared at the chameleon. "I don't owe you anything!"

"Really." Espio pulled out a throwing knife and started tossing it casually in one hand. "And why is that? You hired us to reunite you with Sonic. The Chaotix take no responsibility for any humiliation, insults or loss of limb which may result from such a reunion."

"I'd pay 'em, kid," Knuckles said coldly. "These guys don't fool around, especially when it comes to collecting payment."

"Ha!" Amy planted both hands on her hips and glared at Espio. "Well, the joke's on you 'cause I don't have any money! I was gonna ask Sonic to pay you."

"You _what_! Two hundred and fifty Mobiums..." Sonic shook his head. "I don't carry that kinda money around with me!"

"Well, _someone_ better pay," Espio said. His tone was dangerous now, and Sonic couldn't help noticing that a shuriken had joined the throwing knife.

"Don't complicate things," Sonic muttered to him.

"Complicate? The girl hires us to reunite the two of you, we reunite the two of you, she pays us. Where's the complication?"

"Just..." Sonic floundered. For all Amy's faults (and she really had overstepped the line this time) he didn't want her to get hurt. A crazy idea occurred to him and he looked at Espio. "Can we come to some kinda arrangement?"

Both shuriken and knife paused in Espio's hands and the chameleon turned cool eyes on him.

"I'm listening."

"What about a down payment?" Sonic did a rapid calculation of his finances and how much he could afford. "Twenty five Mobiums now, the rest later."

"Ten percent?" Espio shook his head. "Hardly. Fifty percent or nothing."

"Fifteen."

"Forty."

"Twenty."

"Twenty five."

Sonic hesitated, then sighed. "Okay. Twenty five percent."

Espio slotted both weapons away neatly. "You got twenty four hours to get us the rest of it, and I'll take that down payment right now before you or anyone else leaves this room. Sixty two and a half Mobiums. Call it sixty two; I'll knock off that half a Mobium for the entertainment value."

"I don't have it with me. It's in my bag, in my room. You can go get it."

Espio glanced at Charmy and jerked his head; the bee zoomed off, returning a minute later with Sonic's bag, which he dropped into Espio's waiting hands. The chameleon tossed it to Sonic, who almost fumbled it in his surprise.

"Count it out."

Sonic opened his bag, counted out six ten-Mobium bills and two Mobium coins (noticing with an inward wince that he now only had four and a half left out of the hundred he'd started with) and pushed them over to Espio, who checked them before nodding curtly.

"Alright. We're still owed a chunk of money, but like I said, you got twenty four hours for that. That should give you of all people enough time to get to the bank."

"Will you take payment in rings?" Sonic asked, not very hopefully.

"No. Exchanging one ring for one Mobium needs a two-page form, at least it does if you try to do it as a business dealing. Can you imagine filling out the same form one hundred and eighty seven times? Three hundred and seventy four pages?" Espio shook his head. "Forget it. And we don't take cheques either."

Knuckles glanced at Amy. "Kid, do you have any money at _all_?"

Amy glowered at him. There was no love lost between either of them.

"Well, okay, so I have twelve Mobiums, but I am _not_ handing them over to _these_ guys!"

"Sure you're not," the echidna said flatly, then reached out and seized the hedgehog's wrist in one hand, yanking her money belt off with the other and releasing Amy to unzip it. "I count fifteen and a half Mobiums here. You're richer than you thought."

"You can't—" Amy began.

"I just did," Knuckles cut across, tossing the money to Espio. "That's a hundred and seventy two you're owed now."

"I need that money! I gotta pay the monorail fare home! I can't let you—"

Knuckles, acting on an unspoken request from Espio, seized Amy by the neck and carried her bodily out of the room, ignoring with unusual stoicism the insults hurled at him, Sonic, Knuckles' mother, his father, Sonic, the CDA, the combined ancestry of everyone present and Sonic.

There was a shriek of pain and outrage followed by a clattering sound and Knuckles came back in, dusting off his hands as though he'd been handling something particularly filthy.

"What'd you do?" Sonic said edgily.

"She didn't want to leave on her own, so I gave her a little push," Knuckles said calmly. "Nothing to be concerned about."

"Did you hurt her?"

"Does it matter?" Knuckles countered. "Since you ask, the answer's _no_. At least, not as much as you did. She might be back though; I wouldn't put it past her."

Sonic shot a wary glance towards the door. "Yeah...well...maybe I'll go see what Bait wants. You guys can tell Amy I've moved onto Mystic Cave Zone if she comes looking for me."

He turned and sped away to Bait's room, where the jackal was lying on his bed, chin pillowed on his arms.

"Hey Bait." Sonic flopped down on the armchair. "Man, what did I ever do to deserve Amy Rose?" he muttered, too low for Bait to hear, then glanced up at the jackal. "Knux said you had something you wanted to talk to me about, so shoot."

Bait took a long, deep breath.

"Mister, I'm leavin'."

The shock of this was like a glass of ice water in the face, and for a long moment, Sonic could only stare at him, stunned.

"You're what?" he managed at last.

"I gotta. I shouldn'ta come in the first place, mister. All I'm gonna do is bring trouble. Raker dunt like his guys leavin'. I shoulda thoughta that before goin'."

"Why did you leave, anyway?" Sonic asked curiously. Bait studied his toes for a few minutes.

"I...uh...well, somethin' 'bout you an' what you said to Raker. See, you come along an' said how you was lookin' for your brother an' he wasn't even the same race as you but you still wanted to look for him." Bait shrugged slightly, still not looking up. "I guess I was kinda curious. Raker wouldn'ta done that for me, not never. He on'y put up with me 'cause I'm so good at bein' bait. I shouldn'ta come an' then he wouldn'ta burnt everythin'."

"He...oh. Oh, that's what this is all about, huh? Bait." Sonic moved over to sit down next to the jackal and put an arm around his shoulders, ignoring the resultant stiffness. "Bait, you can't start thinking like that. When..." He stopped, cleared his throat and started again. "Look, sometimes things happen that we can't control. Last time I was in Oil Ocean, even the people who lived there were saying how it was an accident waiting to happen. You just gotta...just try and put it behind you."

"_How_?" Bait said stridently. "How? All them people _dead_, dead jus' 'cause Raker wanted to get me. He wouldn'ta bothered if it'd jus' been you two, mister, he dunt care what happens to people long's it don't interfere with his stuff. If I leave he'll come after me an' leave you two alone to find your buddy."

Sonic shook his head. "Bait, listen. What happened back there was _not your fault_."

"I dunt believe you. You'd say that anyway, jus' to shut me up."

"No, I wouldn't, and if you can't believe me, at least believe Knuckles. When's he ever spared your feelings before?"

Knuckles cleared his throat. "Sonic's right, kid. What happened wasn't your fault."

"Then whose fault _was_ it?" Bait demanded.

"Who was it threw the match?" Sonic countered.

"_Why'd_ he throw it, mister?"

Sonic hugged the jackal tightly to him. Bait didn't relax, but he didn't pull away either.

"He threw it because he's...well, he's..."

"A psychotic bastard," Knuckles filled in succinctly.

"He ain't, mister," Bait said, his voice somewhat muffled against Sonic's chest. "He ain't as bad as all that, honest. He's not a bad guy."

Sonic took a long, deep breath, then expelled it abruptly and looked at Knuckles for help.

"Not a bad guy?" the echidna echoed. "Kid, he beats you, burns you, plays cruel mind games with you for his own amusement and to cap it all off he's just wiped out an entire Zone, killing thousands of people and making over a hundred more completely homeless! When are you gonna start thinking he's a bad guy?"

"He dint mean to, mister. Prob'ly not. Least, I dunt think so."

"You don't think so," Sonic echoed quietly, "or you don't _want_ to think so?" When Bait was obstinately silent, he went on. "Knuckles is right, Bait. What happened wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known what he was planning. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine; you tried to warn me and I didn't listen."

Bait still didn't answer.

"We're not keeping you prisoner," Sonic added. "If you really want to go, we won't stop you. But go for the right reasons, Bait, not just because you're too scared to stick with us."

"Mister, I don't _wanna_ go. But if he finds you with me...Sonic, I dint _know_ he was gonna blow up an entire Zone, honest!"

It was the first time Bait had voluntarily called Sonic by name, and that in itself was enough to decide the hedgehog.

"Bait, look at me. Look at me and tell me honestly that you got some other reason for going back to Raker besides your own damn fear, and I'll help you pack myself. But if you don't..." Sonic shook his head. "I know he's your brother, but one day he is going to go too far and _you_ are going to wind up permanently crippled, or worse, dead. And you know it, don't you?"

Bait gulped and nodded once, shakily.

"Then why go back to him?"

A small shrug. "'Sall to do with loyalty, innit mister? You gotta have a sense of loyalty t'wards fam'ly an' friends, else what else _is_ there?"

"Raker has no loyalty towards _you_, Bait." Sonic spoke the words softly, intensely. He didn't fully know what the upshot of this conversation was going to be, but he knew one thing; he did not want to stand back and watch the jackal crawl meekly back to serve as the outlet for Raker's insane aggression. He saw the jackal's hand inching towards his own, knew what Bait desperately wanted – no, _needed_ – but was still too apprehensive to take.

"It's okay," Sonic told him softly. "Go ahead."

The jackal snatched his hand away as if it had been burnt. "Nuh uh, it's okay mister, honest. I heard what your buddy said 'bout Raker. He's alive, he's here an' he's lookin' for me." He paused. "I c'n tell you how to find your buddy from here," he added. "Or at least tell you who can tell you. There's an office buildin' somewhere in this Zone called Sekko's Salves. S'posedly it makes ointments an' junk, but it's jus' a...a fake. Kinda. They threw your buddy into the back of a truck in Em'rald Hill Zone an' the name an' Zone was written on the side. Summun there'll be able to help you."

"You said the Mystic Cave Zone before," Knuckles reminded him.

"Yeah, an' I still think he's down there, but I dunno for sure. I jus' knew we had to get here an' now we're here an' I hafta go _now_ before I..."

"Lose your nerve?" Sonic suggested quietly. "It's not going to make any difference, Bait. You saw Raker back there; he didn't care if you lived or died so long as Knuckles and me were dead too."

"Yeah...well...that's jus' his way, innit?"

"That's a lie and you know it," Knuckles said sharply.

"Yeah, well, you'd say that anyway jus' to get me to stick with you, mister. 'Cause you don't care what Raker does to me long's _you_ find your buddy. You'll on'y protect me while I'm useful to you."

"It's still protection then, and even after we find Tails, I doubt Sonic will abandon you even if I do."

"Damn right I won't." Sonic shook his head. "What did you say this place was called?"

"Sekko's Salves, mister. Dunno whereabouts it is, but it's somewhere in this Zone."

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged grim looks.

"Get off that bed, kid," Knuckles said curtly. "We're going for a walk."

**Okay, that's it for this chapter and I'm off to play with the Chao some more :P Hope you enjoyed it and if you read, please review :D**


	13. Sekko's Salves

**Toboe16: (smiles) Thanks. Yeah, I think you're right...Knux does kinda trust Bait now...a little ;)**

**Ri2: (_Sonic: You're telling me!_) As for the money...you'll have to wait and see ;)**

**XTailsX: Er...thanks, I think :P**

**Matri90: Thanks; I'm glad you enjoyed it :D**

**SaffraEchidna: Yep, another long one; once my writing gene gains momentum it's hard to shut down ;) I'm glad you liked the part about Amy; that's one of my faves too (weg) (_Amy: Hmph!_)**

**Kj: (grins) Thanks. I loved that line as well :P**

**Burn it: Thanks for the review; I'm pleased you like it :D**

**Parslie: Thanks :)**

**Rivic: Heh...that's a very good way of putting it :P **

**FriedBrickWall: Chao...cute and very annoying at times ;) As for Bait and Tails...you'll find out very soon ;)**

**Asher Tye: Heh, and you were right ;) As for the talk...read on ;)**

_Guardian's Log no. 11479_

_I wish Sonic would let me fight my own battles. Granted if I'd been the one to slap Amy I'd have probably broken her neck, but...oh hell, I don't know. Sonic's been moody ever since we left. I doubt he'll be happy until he's managed to track down Amy and apologise. It's weird; I've never seen him lose control like that. I guess he must be really worried about things, more so than I gave him credit for._

_--Knuckles the Echidna_

_My Memoirs by Me_

_Oh hell. Jeez, what kind of guy am I? Maybe Tails was right back in Robotnik's fortress; I really am pathetic. How...damn. Damn, damn, damn._

_I'm not a violent person by nature. I've never hit anyone in my life; at least, not anyone who wasn't made out of metal. Amy said that and I just...admittedly I was furious at her, but I was also scared. False modesty aside, if I could barely hold my own against Knuckles in a fight (and there is NO WAY that smarmy echidna must EVER know that!) what chance would she have? At the time all I could think of was getting between her and Knuckles. I didn't know I was actually going to hit her until after it had happened. I wish I could take it back but since I can't I'll have to do the next best thing; namely find Amy and apologise._

_She really does bug the hell out of me though, and that's not some lame attempt at justification; that's the plain truth. I didn't dream about Tails last night, which frightened me; does that mean it's too late? I'm afraid for Tails, I have a jackal with serious trust issues to look after, I have to somehow stop Knuckles from killing everyone who insults him or Tails, or who gets in our way, and a psycho's out for my blood...and no, I'm not talking about Robotnik. I guess Amy's raving was the last straw; I wanted to make it clear once and for all that I'm not interested in a relationship._

_Damn. Amy, where are you hiding?_

_--Sonic the Hedgehog_

_Bait's Jurnal_

_Wanted to leeve but couldnt; chikkened out at last minit. Sonic's in a lousy mood; better keep away for now._

_--Bait the Jakkel_

"Mister, is he okay?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "He'll be fine once the guilt trip wears off. He's not dumb enough to dwell on this forever."

"He's not deaf either," Sonic retorted, "so if you're gonna talk about me, at least do it out of earshot! Or why don't you ask me yourself?"

"'Cause whenever we try to talk to you, all you do is grunt at us," Bait answered simply.

Sonic sighed. How could he have done that? He was just...oh hell, it had all happened so fast.

"He's pissed off because he finally gave Amy Rose what she needed; ie, a slap upside the head."

"She didn't need it, Knuckles," Sonic said flatly. "She didn't do anything to deserve it."

The echidna stopped to stare at him. "Nice! So much for the whole 'I look out for my friends and Knuckles' deal."

"So much for never beatin' anyone either," Bait mumbled.

"I didn't beat her," Sonic informed him tersely. "One slap does _not_ constitute a beating, and passing remarks about my friends is _not_ something I take lightly. And I think it was better my doing it than Knuckles; he'd probably have shattered her skull. I'd have done the same thing if she'd insulted you or Tails, and if you'd been the one who said it, I'd have slapped _you_."

"No fear, mister!" Bait held up both hands. "I ain't dumb. 'Sides, she was out of order. I never insult nobody, 'cause I got enough trouble back home without lookin' for more. An' I think your buddy was right; friendship ain't a part-time deal."

Sonic glanced at him and his lips quirked. "Nicely put, Bait."

"Hey, lookit that," Bait said suddenly, pointing at a job agency. "Think they'd take a kid my age?"

"Bait, will you stop yammering on about that!" Sonic said testily. "You're not gonna have to leave us, okay? Nothing that Raker's done is your fault and you _know_ it, don't you?"

"Yeah, mister," Bait said, in a voice which said he might know it, but he didn't believe a word of it. "But...jus' in case, c'n I go look?"

Sonic gave up. "Alright. Fine. Go and look if you want to, but it's not necessary."

"Thanks mister!" Bait spun and raced off to the window, reading the ads.

"Maybe he's right," Knuckles muttered. "It's not exactly been a smooth journey ever since Bait joined us, has it?"

"Did you see the way he looked back in the apartment?" Sonic said, more to himself than to Knuckles.

"What, like someone had just poured acid on his vitals? Yeah. So what?"

The hedgehog shot him a cold look. "You're not making any friends with that attitude. You _know_ what."

Knuckles sighed. "Yeah, the kid's taking the responsibility of Oil Ocean Zone onto his own shoulders. I gotta wonder how many times he's done that before to protect Raker?" He shook his head. "I dunno what it is about Emerald Hill Zone, but people from there seem to be loyal to a fault."

"Yeah. But you know something else, Knux? I don't think anyone's ever touched that kid except violently." As far as Sonic was concerned there could be nothing worse; physical affection came easily to the hedgehog, who could hug a complete stranger and mean it.

"Sonic?"

Sonic froze midstep at the sound of Amy's voice, then turned around very slowly.

"Uh. Hi Amy. Look, about what happened—"

"It's not true. I know."

Sonic exchanged a startled look with Knuckles.

"Kid, you still got the bruise on your face," the echidna said succinctly. "What d'you mean, it's not true?"

"What are you talking about?" Amy said. Sonic and Knuckles both stared at her, but the girl's perplexed expression was too genuine to be faked.

"What are _you_ talking about?" Sonic asked warily.

"Oil Ocean, of course. I know you wouldn't do anything like that, Sonic."

"That's...thanks, Amy, but I was talking about the whole, uh, I was talking about what happened at the CDA."

"You're mad because I asked them to keep an eye out for you, I know. Well, I'm _sorry_, but I wanted to know you hadn't gone up with Oil Ocean! Can you blame me?"

"Amy, I'm talking about when I slapped you. I'm sorry, I really am. I dunno what came over me."

Amy frowned. "_Slapped_ me? What're you talking about?" Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a tube of lipstick and started applying it, squinting at her reflection in a shop window.

"Whass wrong with her, mister?" Bait whispered loudly to Knuckles.

"Either amnesia, insanity or extreme denial," Knuckles answered, not troubling to keep his voice down. "Given it's Amy Rose, we'll probably never know for sure."

"I heard that, Knuckles." Amy turned to stare hard at the echidna. "You wanna explain just what you meant by—_Sonic_!"

Sonic took a step away, looking nervous. "Uh...yeah?"

"Sonic, where have you _been_? Oh, I've missed you so much!" Amy flung herself on the hedgehog, wrapping both arms around his neck and squeezing. "Have you been saving the world again? You'll have plenty to talk about on our wedding day; you can give loads of speeches about it and—"

"Amy, _please_!" Determined not to slap her again, no matter how much she provoked him this time, Sonic tried and failed to unwind Amy's arms from around his neck. "I thought we'd settled all this."

"Well, we probably did, but I forget! When're we gonna get married?"

"You know those three reasons I listed for Amy's behaviour?" Knuckles murmured to Bait. "You might wanna add schizophrenia to that list. Kid, get off Sonic _now_. He can't marry you if you strangle him."

"Oops. Yep, you're right. Good thinking." Amy let go of Sonic and seized both his hands instead, despite his best efforts to slip away.

"Mister, I dunt get it," Bait said apprehensively. "She was fine right up until she put that lipstick on, wunt she? So why's she actin' all nuts again?"

"The lipstick?" Knuckles frowned, then reached out and snatched the lipstick in question from Amy, who glared at him.

"Hey! Didn't your mother ever tell you it's not polite to snatch, Knucklehead?"

Knuckles didn't answer. Instead he sniffed the lipstick very cautiously, then held it out to Sonic.

"Does that smell like lipstick to you?"

Sonic stared at him. "D'you think you might possibly be asking the wrong person, Knux?"

"It wouldn't anyway," Amy said. "This stuff's fragrant. Now get away from my Sonic!"

"I can smell that," Knuckles told her curtly. "Amy, go wash your face."

"Nuh uh! My boss told me this is guaranteed to bring the guy of my dreams straight to me and I'm not leaving until I have him!"

"Amy, you—" Knuckles began, then thought of something cleverer. "Alright, kid. But...y'know, Sonic's told me a lot about you and about what he's looking for in his ideal girl—"

"Really? Tell me! Tell me!"

"Yeah, Knuckles," Sonic said dangerously from behind them. "I think we'd all like to hear this one."

"Sonic...he's a pretty natural guy, wouldn't you say?" Knuckles asked Amy.

"Totally!"

"Yeah, right, uh, _totally_. And...that being so, he likes natural girls."

"I _am_ a natural girl!"

"What I mean is, he hates any form of...uh...artificial beauty. Like cosmetics." Knuckles paused to let this sink in, then added, "You really want a chance with Sonic, clean off the makeup first."

"Huh. Okay. I guess you oughta know."

"Trust me on this one, kid. Besides, if you and Sonic really do have this wonderful relationship, he won't care what you look like. I just happen to know he doesn't like makeup."

"Actually, I don't mind girls with—" Sonic began, but both Knuckles and Bait – who was slightly faster on the uptake – trod on his toes and he winced and shut up.

"Okay. Be back in a second." Amy turned and sped away, leaving Sonic glaring at Knuckles.

"Just what was _that_ all about?"

Knuckles shook his head. "Haven't you figured it out yet? She was made up when she came to get the CDA to find you, and she was upset when she left. What's the first thing you do when you've been crying and wailing? You go wash your face. Didn't you notice she wasn't wearing makeup just now? When she took it off, she went back to normal. She didn't start acting crazy again until she'd put the lipstick back on." Knuckles considered. "Of course, if she comes back without makeup and starts proposing again, we'll know I was wrong."

"You're talking about...what? Mind-altering substances? In her _lipstick_?"

Knuckles shook his head. "No, I think it's in all the makeup. The lipstick just works the fastest because it's in the perfect place for someone to breathe it in."

"An' out, mister," Bait added.

"What?" Knuckles said tersely.

"Well...mister, wouldn't whatever's being breathed in get breathed out? Like if you blow smoke from a fire, it goes in the direction of your breath? An' s'pose she kissed Sonic? S'pose she kissed him an' he got that gunk on his lips? Wunt that make him all crazy an' junk?" He looked at Sonic and dared to add, "Well...crazier, anyway."

"Thanks a lot, Bait," Sonic said lightly. "Love you too."

There was the sound of running footsteps and Amy skidded to a stop, devoid of makeup and looking upset.

"What just happened? One moment I was...I was talking to you guys and Sonic said he'd slapped me and the next thing I know I'm in a public restroom." She shook her head. "I think I'm...Sonic, do you think I'm losing my mind?"

Temptation flickered across Sonic's face for a brief moment before he said, "No. Not at all. It's just...you're not crazy, Amy." He looked at Knuckles for help.

"This place you work for...does it make cosmetics by any weird chance?" the echidna asked Amy, who nodded.

"Yeah. I get a thirty percent staff discount."

Knuckles glanced at Sonic. "You wanna tell her or shall I?"

"Huh?" Amy looked from one to the other. "Tell me what?"

Sonic took a deep breath. "Amy...your makeup's controlling your mind."

"Nice one," Knuckles muttered, while Bait howled with laughter in the background. "Real smooth."

"Well, if you'd like to take over, feel free!" Sonic hissed at him, although a part of him was gratified at Bait's reaction; he'd never heard the kid laugh before.

"What?" Amy said.

"Here." Knuckles reached out and touched the bruise on Amy's face. She winced.

"Hey, that hurts!"

"You came to the CDA and promised them two hundred and fifty Mobiums if they'd find Sonic for you. When he showed up, you announced to the entire room that you were going to be married, and when I pointed out that you abandoned him when he was crippled—"

Amy winced. "Don't remind me of that, okay? I've been hoping to find Sonic again to apologise for that. And I did ask the CDA to keep an eye out for you, Sonic, but they agreed to do it without money."

Knuckles' jaw dropped. "They _what_? What'd you do in return?"

Amy shrugged. "Well, I told them I didn't have enough money to pay the normal fees, but I promised them I'd bee-sit whenever they wanted to go out and watch an adult movie and if they wanted a break from Charmy outside working hours, I'd pay for him to go into one of the Gardens around here."

Knuckles smirked. "Yeah, that'd work. So at which point did you up the ante and offer them a chunk of Mobiums? Because Espio's claiming you did – and not only that, you also refused point blank to cough up – and like I said, you shrieked about marriage and plans to Sonic and made some far less polite comments and innuendos about me—"

"I _what_?" Amy stared. "What'd I say?"

"Nothing I want to repeat in public," Knuckles said flatly. "Bottom line, you went back to normal when you washed the makeup off. Look kid, what do you actually remember about today?"

"Today?" Amy looked uncertain. "Well...I planned to get up early because I wanted to see if I could pull any extra hours at work. I got a family of five staying in my apartment; they were one of the ones who managed to get outta Oil Ocean Zone. The father's trying to find work but with four kids that's not easy and so far I'm working to pay for all of 'em and I need all the hours I can get."

"You weren't wearing your makeup when you left the apartment, were you?" Sonic said rhetorically.

"No. I was kinda rushed 'cause my alarm didn't go off. I made myself up on in a public restroom and then..."

"Then?" Sonic prompted.

"I don't remember. All I remember is coming to with a bruise on the side of my face, the basin in front of me filled with water and no money in my pouch. I thought I'd been mugged."

"...Yeah," Knuckles said, looking slightly embarrassed. "Well...uh...I owe you fifteen and a half Mobiums." When Amy stared at him, he added, "I took 'em back in the CDA to shave off a little of your debt. Hang on...here." He rummaged around in his bag and pulled out sixteen rings. "You can change these without too much trouble, long's it's personal wages. Sonic'll change some rings and clear the rest of that debt. Espio doesn't care who pays them so long as someone does."

Amy stared. "I refused to pay _Espio_? But I...surely he understands..."

"Being brainwashed by lipstick is no excuse for failing to pay, at least not as far as the CDA are concerned," Knuckles said coolly. "We paid twenty five percent, which got you a respite until ten o'clock tomorrow morning. And they won't take payment in rings. Like I said, Sonic'll sort it."

"Oh, he will, will he?" Sonic muttered under his breath. Amy shook her head.

"No, I'll pay, but...until ten tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah," Sonic said. "Look, I was just kidding, if you want me to clear it, I will—"

"I pay my own debts, Sonic. I'll explain things to Espio and offer to bee-sit all next week if he'll extend that deadline a little."

"He'd do a lot to get Charmy off his hands," Knuckles said, "but you'll still need to throw in some money to convince him you're genuine."

Amy considered. "How much do I owe him?"

"One hundred and seventy two Mobiums."

The pink hedgehog winced as though each word had been a dart. "Okay. I'll give him a hundred up front and see if I can't work out some kinda arrangement for the rest of it. You think Espio'd take it on a monthly basis?"

"I think he might accept a weekly one," Knuckles said candidly, "and besides, it's Vector you got to reckon with. If he doesn't want part-payments it won't matter whether Espio does or not."

Amy winced again. "Alright. I better get going. Unless you wanna go for a coffee...?" She let the sentence trail off hopefully.

"Some other time, maybe," Sonic answered automatically. A crazy idea occurred to him. "Wait. D'you know a building called Sekko's Salves?"

"Sekko's? Well, sure I know it; it's where I got my job as a part-time receptionist." The pride in Amy's voice was unmistakable. "I know Sekko too; he tried to put the moves on me one time." Amy shivered. "Dirty one-eyed creep. I had to whack him with my hammer a couple times before he took the hint."

Sonic stared at her. "He _what_?"

Knuckles smacked him upside the head. "Quit that, Sonic. If you're not in a relationship, you're not allowed to feel jealous."

"It's not that, it's..." Sonic started to say that Amy was only twelve years old, then bit down on that hard. "He let you stay on?" he said instead.

"Yeah. Even gave me a bonus. Said it was his way of saying sorry. I almost told him to wham it right up his kazoo—" Amy swung her hammer through the air for greater emphasis— "but then I kinda remembered my houseguests and thought I could use the money. I did tell him if he tried it again I'd have him arrested though."

"And did he?" Sonic asked, already knowing the answer. Amy in a rage was a terrifying sight.

"Nope. Never. Look, if you really wanna find Sekko's, you go down this road and turn right, take the third left, the fourth right and keep going for a hundred yards, then it's the first turning on your left, the second on your right and Sekko's is straight ahead, you can't miss it. Hm." Amy considered. "Or is that the second turning on your left and the first on your right?" She shrugged. "Oh well, you'll find it. If you get lost, just ask somebody else."

"Thanks a lot, Amy," Sonic said sincerely. "And I really am sorry I hit you, even if you can't remember it."

"Oh, and kid?" Knuckles added. Amy turned.

"Yeah?"

"Get yourself another job. I don't think Sekko's going to be in business for very much longer." Knuckles turned and strode away, Sonic and Bait following.

"Why would _anyone_ wanna control people's minds through makeup?" Bait wondered. "It ain't like you'd get any guys on your side, is it?" He thought about this. "Well...prob'ly not many."

"It didn't control her mind, Knuckles," Sonic said. "I think it just...removed her inhibitions. Turned her into pure emotion, made her almost..._feral_." He shuddered. "How'd you know about that place making makeup, anyway?"

"You need to learn to think about things, Sonic. That lipstick had cellophane wrapped around the bottom of it. That means it was brand new. Amy's a little immature at times – in fairness, what do you expect from a starstruck twelve year old – but she's not stupid. People who are playing host to one adult and four kids usually don't have the money for niceties like makeup, which means the only real way she could get any would be to get a staff discount." He considered. "Or a free sample. After all, that stuff's expensive; you're talking at least two or three Mobiums a tube. That's the same cost as a sandwich and a coffee."

Sonic tipped his head on one side and grinned. "Y'know, I always thought there were brains in there, Knucklehead. Though I'm kinda worried you know the price of lipstick, but still..." He dodged the elbow that came slamming his way and sped ahead, turning to face them and jogging on the spot. "C'mon, is that the best you can do?"

"I'm saving _that_ for this Sekko guy," the echidna said darkly.

"Oh right. Well, while you're planning the tortures you no doubt want to inflict on him, _I'm_ going to do something constructive."

"Like what? Race around and power up the wind turbines?"

"Sounds like fun, but no. I'm gonna go and see if I can't actually _find_ this place. You slow-mos keep trudging; _I'm_ gonna pick up the pace." He turned and sped off.

"Thank the Emeralds for that," Knuckles muttered, then glanced at Bait. "I need you to do something for me, kid. Get to the nearest store and grab me the biggest, strongest, most powerful cutting torch you can."

"Mister, you know I ain't got no money."

"Would you say that to Raker?"

Bait stared. "You...you want me to _steal_ it, mister?"

"Yeah. And get a move on; I don't know how much time we have."

"Yeah, mister, but...but Sonic said—"

"I won't tell him if you don't. Now get moving."

Bait hesitated, then spun on his heel and raced towards a hardware store. Part of Knuckles wanted to watch – he couldn't help wondering how Bait was going to smuggle a cutting torch out – but he resisted temptation. He didn't want to tip anyone off and so he kept walking.

"Found it!" Sonic whizzed around him four times, skidded to a stop and grinned broadly at him. "Amy gives good directions; it was just where she said it'd be. C'mon!" He paused. "Where's Bait?" he added.

"I'm here, mister." Faster than Knuckles would have given him credit for, the jackal dashed up holding a box containing a small battery powered cutting torch and four packs of batteries. "I got it," he added to Knuckles, then caught sight of Sonic, paled and took a step back.

"What've you got there?" Sonic asked. Bait dropped his gaze.

"Cutting torch," he mumbled. Sonic blinked.

"Yeah? Where'd you find that?"

"In th' hardware store back there." Bait's voice was barely audible now; with ears flattened against his skull and his tail ducked firmly between his legs, he looked every inch the guilty party.

"The hardware store, huh?" Sonic said. "How'd you manage to buy that when neither you nor Knuckles have any money?"

Bait scuffed one sneaker against the road and mumbled something.

"What did you say?" Sonic didn't sound angry, but he wasn't smiling either.

"...dint buy't, mister..."

Now Sonic stared at him so coldly that the jackal shifted away, muscles completely rigid.

"Bait, I thought we'd gotten past all this."

Bait looked up. "It wunt my idea, mister, honest!"

"Somehow it never is, is it?" Sonic said flatly. "Whose idea was it, then, if not yours?"

"Mine." Knuckles took the cutting torch from Bait and looked it over. "Perfect. Good work, kid."

"_Yours_?" Sonic stared at the echidna, temporarily speechless. "Knux...how could you...what...how..._what the hell were you thinking_?"

"I was thinking about Tails, oddly enough. I always see the chains on him and I'm not sure I can break them with my bare hands. I don't have any money, you don't have enough and I didn't want to wait until you did."

"You could have asked me first!"

"You forget yourself, Sonic; I don't need either your blessing or your condemnation to act. And besides, I plan on returning it when Tails is out or if I can't, then at least paying for it."

"Mister?" Bait looked up at Sonic warily. "Mister, you ain't gonna make me go back an' pay for it like you did with that food, are you?"

"Yes I damn well am!" Sonic erupted. "I don't care how important this is; you should never have agreed and _you—_" this was flung at Knuckles— "you should have known better than to encourage him!"

"_I'll_ go back and pay, if there's any trouble," Knuckles said coldly. "Don't take it out on Bait, Sonic; he was just doing what I told him and if it makes you feel any better, he wasn't comfortable with it."

"You've lost your mind, Knucklehead! After all we've...after all I...after all Bait's done, you wanted him to—"

"Get a grip!" Knuckles shot back, his temper rising. "Yeah, I told him to steal this, because I don't want to get to Tails, let him think I'm gonna rescue him and then say, 'Oh sorry, kid, you'll have to wait another few days while I get something to cut through the chains'. I'll tell you something else, Sonic; we are only gonna get one chance at this, so let's get it _right_."

"Mister?" Bait fixed Sonic with a nervous look. "Mister, are you mad?"

"Am I...you bet your ass I'm mad!" Sonic said furiously, then saw the jackal's expression and relented enough to add, "but not with you. Though _somebody's_ gonna have to pay for this stuff."

"I told you I'm going to take it back when I'm done," Knuckles said. "Get a grip, Sonic. I'll even apologise to the guy if that's what you want."

"Mister, I'm real sorry, honest I am. 'S jus'...I...Knuckles ast me an'...an'..."

"You couldn't say no," Sonic finished, then softened. "It's okay, kid. I can't deny it's going to be useful, but you should've come to me first and I'd at least have given you money and a note to leave behind."

"You wunt around."

"No." Sonic fixed Knuckles with an icy stare. "If I was, Knucklehead would never dare ask you to do anything as stupid as that."

"You wish, Sonic. Are we going to Sekko's or not?"

Sonic took hold of Knuckles' shoulders. "First I want you to promise me _never_ to pull a stunt like that again! I thought you were supposed to be _honest_!"

Knuckles broke the hedgehog's grip with almost no effort and stared back arrogantly. "No chance. I told you I want to get Tails out of there, and I will do _anything_ to accomplish that goal. You can either help me or back off, but _do not_ attempt to stand in my way. Clear?"

"Crystal," Sonic said flatly, "and now I'm telling you; Tails or no Tails, you do anything like that again and I'll arrest you myself."

"I'd like to see you try," Knuckles drawled. "C'mon Sonic. This place is making me uneasy. The sooner we deal with this Sekko, the sooner I can go home again."

"What's wrong with him, mister?" Bait ventured to Sonic, who snorted.

"He's homesick."

"I am not."

"He is," Sonic insisted in a stage whisper to Bait, who looked relieved that the hedgehog seemed to be happy with him again. "He gets like this on every journey; half the time he's grouchy about leaving Angel Island in the first place, then he enjoys himself for a full two minutes and then he's grouchy about not knowing what's going on back home."

"If you're going to be like this, then I've nothing further to say to you, Sonic."

"OoooOOOOooh. That a promise, Knuckles-ol'-buddy-ol'-pal?"

The echidna whirled. "How you can joke at a time like this—!"

"If being on our way to talk to the person who can lead us right to Tails doesn't give me the right to be in a good mood, I dunno what does, Knux." Sonic seized Knuckles' wrist in one hand, Bait in another and broke into a run, towing the pair behind him. Knuckles, who had experienced the indignity of being trailed behind Sonic like an old tin can, closed his eyes in resignation. If it got them to Tails, he'd put up with it.

Bait, on the other hand, had both eyes tightly shut for a completely different reason; pure terror. When Sonic skidded to a stop (creating an interesting elastic effect as both Knuckles and Bait continued past him at a rate of knots before finally coming to a halt), the jackal staggered a few steps away, dropped to his hands and knees and vomited helplessly.

A hand dropped onto his shoulder and he cringed, more through shame than fear, then looked up into Sonic's concerned eyes. Face burning with humiliation, acutely aware of passers by staring, Bait ducked his head again.

"Sorry mister," he said hoarsely. "'S jus'...sorry."

"It's okay. I'm sorry too; I forgot you're not used to stuff like that. C'mon." Sonic caught hold of Bait's elbow and pulled him to his feet, supporting him on unsteady legs until the jackal was able to stand on his own. "You had your look yet?" he demanded, glaring at the people still watching. "Haven't you ever seen anyone throw up before. C'mon Bait; let's get inside. Maybe Sekko's people will be more _polite_," he added pointedly, noticing with great satisfaction how people were now avoiding his gaze and going about their business.

Together, the pair of them followed Knuckles – who was already several feet ahead and accelerating fast – into the building with _Sekko's Salves_ written across the top in flashing neon red letters. A bored-looking puma on reception didn't even bother looking at them as she said, "D'you have an appointment?"

"We're here to see Sekko," Knuckles said. His voice was calm, that silky calm that only ever occurs when a person's temper is about ten seconds away from atomic explosion.

"Sekko's in a meeting, sugar, and can't be disturbed. You wanna see him, make an appointment."

"It's urgent," Sonic said, half of him striving to keep his voice polite (the other half was too busy laughing hysterically at Knuckles' expression at being called _sugar_).

"It's always urgent, babe. Like I said, Sekko's in a meeting."

Knuckles inserted a set of spikes into the desk and leaned in confidentially. "When's he due out?"

"Sometime in the next fifteen minutes."

"Fine." The spikes were withdrawn. "We'll wait here for him."

A shrug. "Suit yourself." The puma turned a page in her magazine, blowing a large pink bubble as she did so, and the three seated themselves on the plush chairs, reaching for their own magazines.

"Mister," Bait said after about an hour had passed, "what's so special 'bout an 'lasticated thong?" He turned his magazine around once or twice, squinting.

Sonic lifted his eyes from his holiday magazine to stare.

"What?"

"This boy's ravin' 'bout his girlfriend's 'lasticated thong, mister, an' I never seen none before. What's so special 'bout it?"

Sonic glanced at Knuckles, then rolled his eyes at the echidna's expression. "Don't look so shocked, Knux."

"I'm not shocked," Knuckles answered candidly. "I'm just wondering what the hell kind of magazines they put in this waiting room."

"Yeah...uh...speaking of waiting, how much longer do we have to wait?" Sonic demanded of the receptionist.

She barely looked up from her own magazine as she replied, "As long as it takes. Sekko is extremely busy. He can't just see anyone who wanders in off the street. You might be allowed in, but your companions...well, the echidna race is known for being surly, bad-mannered and unpredictable and your jackal friend seems to be somewhat less refined than the company we usually entertain here."

Knuckles smiled. "We understand your concerns perfectly, madam. You'll have to excuse Sonic; if something takes longer than ten nanoseconds, he gets impatient. Will you at least tell us which door to keep an eye on, so we can try and catch Sekko's eye when he comes out?"

Sonic and Bait exchanged stunned looks as the receptionist, somewhat mollified at being called 'madam', pointed to the door on the right. Knuckles' smile broadened.

"Thanks. You've been very helpful." Rising to his feet, he crossed over to the door and yanked it so hard it came off its hinges. Tossing it aside, he smirked at Sonic and Bait. "You know, I think there's been a mistake. There's no meeting going on in this room. Guess I'll have to rip off a few more doors."

"No!" For the first time since they'd arrived, the puma showed signs of agitation. "His private office is through there! You can wait inside for him!"

"I'm tired of waiting," Knuckles said flatly as he headed over to the door in question and punched it open. "You tell this Sekko that if he wants to have a private office left, he better get in to save it right away. C'mon, you two."

Sonic and Bait complied, hurrying after Knuckles into a vast, circular and luxuriously furnished room. Numerous oil paintings hung on the walls, which were lined with various cabinets, workstations and banks of video monitors, and a large desk carved to look like a coiled dragon was in the centre of the room.

Knuckles looked around steadily, almost calmly, then strode forward, lifted up a filing cabinet and hurled it through the wall. Reaching down, he picked up a slimmer cabinet and tipped it upside down, spilling drawers and papers all over the plush red carpet, then tilted the cabinet on its side and started to swing it in ever increasing circles around his head. Pivoting expertly on one foot, dipping the cabinet slightly at one part of the cycle and raising at the other, he judged his moment and let fly, sending the empty cabinet spinning through the air to crash into one of the workstations. There was a loud _crack_, and sparks and smoke poured out of the ruined terminal.

Sonic stood back and watched, half appreciative, half awed. He'd never seen Knuckles lose his temper before, certainly not to this extent.

"Not the window!" the hedgehog said sharply, seeing Knuckles pick up one of the heavy chairs and eye the full length glass plate speculatively. "There might be people walking underneath."

The echidna simply grunted in acknowledgement and changed target.

"And not the aquarium either!" Sonic added. "It's not fair to make the fish suffer."

Knuckles rolled his eyes and used the chair to smash one of the other chairs instead before destroying the desk ornaments with it and then breaking it to pieces before picking up the third, final chair and swinging it around in much the same manner as he had the filing cabinet.

"You let go of that chair right now!"

Startled, the echidna obliged before he could really think about it, and the chair flew gracefully through the air, out the ruined door and smashed into the door opposite, shattering the glass window.

"Thankyou," the lizard in the doorway said acidly from somewhere around floor level. "I suppose I should have been more specific; I meant, of course, for you to return the chair to the ground before taking your hands off it."

Knuckles shrugged slightly, breathing slightly faster than usual.

"So I did it the other way round. Is that a crime?"

"Well, that does rather depend on whose head you fling it at," the lizard said in desert tones. Straightening up, he fixed Knuckles with a cool stare out of one yellow eye; the other was missing, and instead of an eyepatch or fake eye, the lizard seemed to prefer the shock factor of an empty socket. "Now, might I inquire as to why you are smashing my office to pieces?"

"Your office," Knuckles echoed very softly. "You're Sekko?"

"Yes."

The echidna nodded. "Pleasure to meet you." He lunged, grasped the lizard by the throat and swung him around into the wall. "I'm Knuckles."

Something flickered in Sekko's single eye, a touch of...fear? The echidna tipped his head slightly on one side.

"You've heard of me?"

"A little." The words rasped out past Knuckles' hands, but he didn't loosen his grip; instead, he tipped his head on the other side.

"Interesting. Since I almost never travel, there are only three people who might talk about me, and two of them are in this room and have never met you before." Abruptly, Knuckles' demeanour changed; he tightened his hold and leaned in, eyes burning furiously. "Tell me where Tails is," he snarled. Anger garbled his words so much that he was obliged to repeat himself three times before Sekko understood and even then he apparently failed to comprehend.

"Tails? What do you mean, tails? What tails?"

Knuckles brought his head forward sharply in a move Mighty had taught him. Both reeling from the clash of skulls, Knuckles opened his hands and dropped Sekko on the floor.

The lizard stared up at the echidna, muscles tense. He was semi-prepared for something like this, had been ever since Tails had told him about the echidnas, but he hadn't been prepared for the viciousness of the attack.

Knuckles looked at Sonic. "Search this place. Quickly."

Sonic didn't waste time arguing, but sped towards the stairs. A few minutes later, he returned, shaking his head.

"Nothing."

Sekko straightened up, fixing Knuckles with a stern look. "Exactly. Now, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Knuckles ignored him, focusing instead on Sonic. "_Nothing_?"

"Well, not Tails, at any rate. But I saw a laser guarded entry to a room which seemed to be some kinda basement. He could be in there somewhere."

"I told you," Sekko began, "I have never heard of your friend—"

Without looking, Knuckles reached out and pinned him against the wall again.

"Find a way down there. Search the whole of this place, Sonic. I don't care how long it takes. Unless—" He broke off suddenly, slamming a hand into his forehead. "Damn! How could I be so stupid?"

"I been wondering that for years, Knux."

Ignoring Sonic (although he made a mental note to get him for that comment at some point) Knuckles swivelled his head around to stare hard at Sekko.

"The slaves...if you had one that was particularly rebellious, what would you do with him? And don't you _dare_ tell me that you don't know what I'm talking about," Knuckles added in dangerous tones. "This office building is all a front, isn't it? Salves, slaves; it's someone's idea of a joke, right? Well, guess what; I'm not laughing. If you had a rebellious slave, what would you do to him?"

"Depends on if we thought he could still be broken in or not." Sekko's voice was frighteningly calm, and Knuckles had to suppress a powerful urge to beat its owner to a bloody pulp at his feet, only managing this by reminding himself sternly and constantly that Sekko wouldn't be able to answer any questions when he was dead. At least he wasn't attempting to deny the charge; Knuckles honestly didn't know how he'd react to something like that.

"Say he couldn't."

"In that case...there are certain precautions. If we felt he was a threat to our employees, then we would take...steps. Otherwise, he would be put into the jail to await further training. Now, please leave. I assure you that your fox friend isn't anywhere here."

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged looks.

"Who said we were looking for a fox?" Sonic said, his voice deceptively casual.

Sekko hesitated. "Well...with a name like Tails..."

"Doesn't mean a thing," Sonic told him. "Everyone in this room has a tail." He shot forward to stand in the door as Sekko turned to leave. "Going somewhere?"

Sekko drew himself up to his full height. "I am leaving. You have no right to keep me prisoner."

"And _you_ got no right to keep Tails prisoner," Knuckles said, closing the gap between them and lifting Sekko again until the lizard was balanced on the very tips of his toes. "Now, either you turn off that laser barrier Sonic was talking about or I'll throw you into it."

Sekko hesitated, then amazingly smiled. "Of course." He nodded to the puma, who was watching the proceedings with a disinterested air. "Shut down the security measures on the lower level."

Without taking her gaze off the tableau in front of her, the puma flicked a switch and Sekko turned the smile on Knuckles. "There, you see? It's done. You can go back down and retrieve your friend, if you can find him."

"Fine." Knuckles moved past him, not turning his back, and picked up the table which held the magazines. "And Sekko?"

The lizard, who had been following Knuckles' progress, blinked. "Yes?"

Knuckles hurled the table overarm, catching Sekko in the face and knocking out two of his teeth. Blood pouring down his jaw, the lizard sat up, dazed and uncomprehending. Knuckles continued to stare at him coldly.

"Don't smile at me. You enslaved one of my closest friends, ordered him chained up and whipped like some animal, so don't you _dare_ smile at me, you sick bastard."

He spun on his heel and strode over to where Sonic and Bait were waiting, both eyeing him with a lot more respect than before.

"Wow." Sonic's voice sounded small in its owner's ears after Knuckles' ringing tones. "Remind me never to piss you off."

"That was _cool_," Bait breathed, staring at Knuckles with an awed expression.

"But _not_ something he makes a regular habit of, right Knux?" Sonic said in tones of mock severity.

"Whatever," Knuckles answered curtly. "Which way from here?"

"Down the stairs. Then right." Sonic pushed past to lead the way, coming to a halt outside the archway, now devoid of lasers.

"What're we waiting for?" Knuckles lifted Sonic bodily and carried him in, Bait following.

Upstairs, Sekko spat blood onto the floor behind the counter and glanced at the puma, who tried not to look too disgusted at his bloody face.

"Shut and bar the door," Sekko ordered, somewhat indistinctly. "That'll stop them."

The receptionist stared at him. "The door? You're relying on the _door _to stop that echidna? Didn't you see what he did to the main office? The damn _wall_ didn't stop him!"

"Do it!" Sekko shoved her out the way and hit the relevant switch himself. There was a soft whirring sound from down below as the doors slid shut, followed by the click as the locks slid across.

Satisfied, Sekko reached out and pressed a sequence of buttons.

"Evacuate the building," he ordered. "The blast should be contained, but there's no point taking unnecessary risks." He paused, then glanced at the puma. "And send someone down to kill that damn two-tailed fox freak. He's far outlived his usefulness and wasn't a particularly good worker anyway; besides, I don't want to take the risk of his being found."

"Sir, what about the manuscripts?"

"That's a good point, but not one I plan to worry myself over too much. The fox managed to translate them with no prior knowledge of the language, so we can do the same thing. It's for the best anyway; I didn't like the idea of his going and spreading malicious rumours about working conditions."

"Yes sir." It was common knowledge that Sekko, for all his slimy and unpleasant ways, never went back on an agreement; if the fox had agreed to translate the entries in question, he'd have walked out the tunnels that same day. The kid had never fully settled or accepted their way of working though; you did occasionally get one who couldn't be broken, although not usually so young. Still, it was better all round if he was dead; he'd not been happy with them, after all.

The receptionist reached out and pushed the alarm button, then headed towards the door. She wasn't unduly worried; they'd done this before and like Sekko said, the blast would be contained in that room, but better safe than sorry.

Downstairs, the three of them looked around the warehouse they'd entered. Packed to the ceiling with crates, barrels and boxes, the only thing of interest was a huge circular vault door on one wall.

"Way in?" Knuckles suggested to Sonic.

"Gotta be."

There was a soft whirr of hydraulics and the doors slid shut again, followed by a _click_ as the locks slid across, and the three of them turned very slowly to stare.

"We're locked in," Bait said, as though he couldn't quite believe it.

"That reptile double-crossed us," Knuckles muttered, his tone hard. "Wait until I catch up with him."

"This is bad, mister. This is real bad."

"Will one of you please tell me something I _don't_ know!" Sonic said stridently.

"How about, you really have been incredibly stupid?" Raker suggested, stepping out from behind a barrel.

"Nah, Knuckles tells me that at least twice a day." Sonic froze as the jackal's words sunk in, then turned to stare at him. "What the _hell_ are _you_ doing here?"

Raker laughed softly. "Oh, please. I knew you'd come here eventually. Instead of following you, I decided to just get here first and wait. I'm glad you showed up today; do you have _any_ idea how dull it is on your own?"

Bait glanced from Raker to the door and back to Raker again, then raced over and tried the handle. There was a crack and he was blasted back by a surge of electricity, knocking into Knuckles and Raker hard enough to send them both flying.

"I hate to say it," Sonic said, now grinning, "but I'm gonna anyway; _strike_!"

"Get the hell off me, you piece of filth," Raker snarled, shoving Bait roughly away, then turned and came face to face with Knuckles, who offered a hand to help him up. The jackal took it, then pain ripped through his entire arm as his wrist was twisted around in a goose lock and then wrenched up behind his back.

"No wonder that kid walked out on you," Knuckles said very quietly in his ear. "I would too. He might be uneducated, but he's not stupid. One more stunt like that and I'll hold you against that electrical field until I get an apology."

In spite of the pain, Raker sneered at him. "You wouldn't dare. You'd suffer as much as I would if you did that; don't you know better than to touch someone who's being electrocuted?"

Knuckles snorted. "It'd hurt, sure. But I've been electrocuted before, and I'd lay odds that you haven't. So like I said; one more stunt like that and I'll twist this arm further and do what I promised. You getting the brunt of it with a near-broken arm, me standing as far away as I can. We'll see who cracks first, and I have a strong suspicion that it won't be me. Because you're like most bullies; a coward and terrified of any pain that you're not inflicting." Releasing the jackal, he shoved him hard enough to send him sprawling, then stared down at him. "Call this a friendly warning." The echidna turned to see Sonic and Bait both gawking at him, jaws hanging. "What's wrong with you two?"

Sonic shut his jaw with a snap, then reached over with one hand to close Bait's for him. "Nothing. I just...what was _that_ all about?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah you do, you actually defended—"

"I said I don't know what you're talking about," Knuckles interrupted in tones which categorically stated that Sonic had better not push this any further.

"You guys hear that?" Bait said suddenly.

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged looks.

"I don't hear anything," Knuckles said flatly.

"Me neither," Sonic said, although looking at the size of the jackal's ears, he supposed it was a fair assumption that Bait's sense of hearing was a hell of a lot better than his own. One look at Knuckles' expression told him that the echidna had reached the same conclusion.

Bait frowned slightly, one ear swivelling slowly around to point sideways.

"I dunno exactly what it is, mister, but it's kinda like a tickin' sound."

Raker clicked his tongue pityingly. "Proving what I've always said, Bait; you're a retard. How often have you worked on objects which tick? How often have you detonated those objects?" He laughed. "And people say I'm crazy. I never planted bombs in people's homes and laughed when they went off."

"I dint neither!" Bait said stridently. "Not never!"

"Oh, don't be so modest," Raker said, still chuckling. "Let's see...there was that house three years back, the office building next month and half a dozen public restrooms. And a lot more; it's so hard to keep track. I understand the bait did occasionally let people out first, but for the most part he just listened to them scream and laughed."

"I dint, mister," Bait said numbly to Sonic. "Raker made me do the bomb thing, sure, but I never laughed, _never_. That was him, honest."

"Liar," Raker drawled. "I remember looking at him and asking if he found it funny and he just laughed. Laughed while those people burned."

"I dint! An' even if I did, I on'y did it 'cause you wanted me to!" Bait said, with a little more emphasis than logic.

"Oh yes, of course; it's all my fault again, isn't it?" Raker shook his head, clicking his tongue pityingly. "Tell me something, Sonic, did he laugh when he destroyed Oil Ocean Zone?"

Bait winced and looked at Sonic. "Mister, you said that wunt my fault!"

"It wasn't," Sonic said in steel tones. "_You_ threw that match, Raker, not Bait."

"Yes, I did, but I didn't know how fast it would spread. I truly never intended to harm anyone except for you." Raker shrugged. "I admit I didn't stop to think things through; if I had, I'd never have dropped that match. My bad."

"What?" Sonic lunged for him, in much the same way Knuckles had gone for Sekko, and ran him into the wall. His voice, when it came out, was little more than a growl. "You _murdered_ thousands of people, took the homes of over a hundred more, damn near killed us and now you just sit there smirking and saying _my bad_? Those people are still dead, Raker; still burned to ash because of _your bad_!" He narrowed his eyes. "Well, I swear to you that when we get out of this, I'll see you pay the full price for your actions and if that means I have to pay a price for carrying matches into that Zone, it'll be well worth it!"

"Sonic?" Knuckles said edgily. "Sonic, much as I hate to break up the vengeance-fest, Bait's right about the ticking. I can hear it as well. Bait reckons it's coming from over there." He pointed at a large metal crate.

"Oh, very good," Raker said. "Did the bait also tell you what it was? Because he knows, echidna, just as I know." He winced as Sonic tightened the hold.

"Alright then," the hedgehog said in deadly tones, "what is it?"

"Don't you _know_?"

Sonic copied Knuckles' earlier move and headbutted Raker hard, then dropped to the ground as strobe lights went off in his skull.

"You're not supposed to knock _yourself_ out with that move," Knuckles hissed.

"It bloody well hurts, Knux!" Sonic grated from the floor.

"I could've told you that. Sonic, you can brain Raker later; right now we need to find the—"

"—bomb?" Raker cut in smoothly. "Yes, I think that's probably the first good idea you've had since I met you."

Sonic froze. "You think it's a _bomb_?"

"I know damn well it is, hedgehog; I've been supplying him for years, explosives and workers. Well, myself and the bait, of course; I couldn't have caught your precious so-called brother without him."

Bait winced and snuck a quick look at Sonic, who was now examining the crate and trying to prise it open without jarring it too badly.

"I know," Sonic said calmly, not looking around. "I had my suspicions when Bait first told me what he did and why you call him what you do, and you told me this back in Aquatic Ruin Zone as well." He glanced back at the jackal. "If you're trying to convince me to throw him out or attack him in a fit of pique, you're wasting your time, Raker. I'm not like you. I said he could stay as long as he wanted and I'm keeping that...oh...my—_KNUCKLES_!"

The echidna was at his side in an instant. "What?"

Sonic nodded towards the crate, which he'd managed to open. Inside was a black sphere with numbers counting down in red. Too few numbers, in the hedgehog's opinion.

"I think it started at ten minutes," he said, his voice strangely tight. "At least, that's when Bait first heard the ticking. Knux...we might not have enough time left."

"Especially since you've wasted at least eight or nine of those minutes fighting with me," Raker said matter-of-factly. Knuckles glared him into silence, then looked at Sonic.

"I hate to admit it, but he does have a point. We can beat the crap out of him after we get out of here. Right now, let's just focus on either getting out or disarming this thing. How much time have we got left?"

"Thirty two seconds." Sonic stared at the timer as though he could stop it by sheer force of will. "Knux, can you punch a way out of here?"

_00.31_

The echidna shook his head. "The door's electrified and the wall's too strong even for me. If we don't disarm this thing we're dead."

_00.30_

Sonic examined the bomb minutely. "Give me that cutting torch, Knuckles."

_00.29_

The echidna hesitated. "You sure you know what you're doing, Sonic?"

_00.28_

"You wanna defuse a bomb, you gotta cut through some wires. Even I know that much. And to cut through the wires, you gotta be able to get to them."

_00.27_

"And you had the nerve to call _me_ insane," Raker said sharply. "You cut the wrong one and we're dead half a minute early."

_00.26_

"You got any better ideas?" Sonic demanded. "Ones that won't end up in you destroying this Zone like you did Oil Ocean?"

_00.25_

"That was the bait's fault, not mine," Raker said, calm again. "If he hadn't deserted, I wouldn't have had to chase him and that Zone and all those people would still be alive."

_00.24_

"_Deserted_?" Knuckles echoed scathingly. "You're running a gang, not a platoon!"

_00.23_

"Family is family," Raker said coolly, then stared hard at Bait. "You always did have a little difficulty getting your head around the concept of loyalty, didn't you?"

_00.22_

"Knuckles, _give_ me that torch! We don't have time to screw around!" Sonic snatched the tool and ignited it. "We'll just have to hope I pick the right one!" He sliced through the covering and stared at the three cables underneath. One red, one yellow, one blue, and no clue which one to disconnect.

_00.21_

"Mister, wait!" Bait pushed up next to Sonic, studied the wires for a split second, then grabbed the blue wire and yanked it out of its hole.

_00.20_

"What—" Sonic began.

"Kid knows about explosives," Knuckles said flatly, remembering their conversation in the Aquatic Ruin Zone. "Don't you, Bait?"

_00.19_

"Well, that's great," Sonic said sarcastically, "except we still have two wires left and less than twenty seconds to live. Which one do we have to pull to _stop_ this thing?"

_00.18_

"I dunno but..." Bait hesitated. "I got a feeling, lookin' at it I got a feeling that the yellow cable's the trip. I know this kind, mister; you dunt pull all the cables, jus' the right ones an' if you pull the trip one th'whole thing goes up. An' I think the yellow's the trip."

_00.17_

"So...you pull the red one?"

_00.16_

"Uh huh. But...I ain't sure." As always when he was under stress, Bait's accent thickened noticeably. "I think it's the red one, but mebbe I'm wrong. Mebbe it's the yellow one. If I'm wrong, we blow up."

_00.15_

"If you do nothing, we blow up," Knuckles retorted. "Do it!"

_00.14_

Bait took a deep breath, then nodded once and reached out.

_00.13_

"This is all your fault, you little brat!" Raker lunged, seizing Bait by the back of the neck and slamming his head into the explosives case once, twice, three times.

_00.12_

"Leave him alone!" Sonic seized the jackal, anger lending him enough strength to hurl him bodily across the room into the opposite wall, then looked at the timer.

_00.11_

"Do it!" he shouted again at Bait, who looked dazed.

_00.10_

"I..."

_00.09_

"Pull the red cable!"

_00.08_

"I can't..." Bait looked around and Sonic saw that Raker's treatment had broken the young jackal's nose, from which the blood was now flowing copiously.

_00.07_

"Sure you can! Just grab the red cable and yank!" The hedgehog raced up to stand beside Bait, intending to do it himself, then stopped dead. _Both _cables were red. Bait's blood had gushed down over the mechanisms, staining everything the same colour.

_00.06_

"Where was it? On the left or on the right?" Sonic demanded. Bait shook his head again, fighting to think.

_00.05_

"I don't...I can't remember. Just...I dunno! Left I think."

_00.04_

"Yeah, left," Bait added, sounding a little more sure of himself. He reached out, groping blindly.

_00.03_

"I got it! I _got_ it!"

_00.02_

"_Pull it_!" Sonic and Knuckles yelled at him simultaneously.

_00.01_

"Okay. Okay, yeah, got it." Bait yanked and the others braced for the explosion.

It didn't come. Sonic, who had squeezed both eyes shut, opened one to look at the timer.

_00.01_

"It worked," he said softly, then a huge grin spread across his face and he seized Bait, pulling him into a hug and ruffling the fur between those large ears in much the same way as he'd ruffle Tails' fur. Bait winced away at first, then returned the hug with a vehemence that surprised the hedgehog.

Knuckles touched Sonic on the shoulder, then, when the hedgehog glanced at him, nodded mutely towards the cable that had been pulled out. When the hedgehog had pulled the jackal away, Bait's hand had taken some of the blood with it. The cable beneath it was yellow.

Raker had unintentionally saved all their lives.

**Okay, I know that strictly speaking this chapter's s'posed to be a Tails one, but he features in the next one, promise ;) If you read, please review!**


	14. Rescue

**Burn It: (grins) Thanks; glad you liked that part :P**

**Matri90: Thanks :)**

**Kj: Heh, me too (_Knuckles: I did not lose control. Every action was planned and thought out on my part_.) Yeah, Knux, you just keep telling yourself that. As far as Tails goes...maybe he'll die and maybe he won't (singsongs: I'll never tell...I'll never te-ell...any of you) ;) Well. Okay, so maybe I will...read on ;)**

**Ri2: Who indeed:P And yep...there's gonna be trouble with Sekko and Tails...**

**FriedBrickWall: Thirty two punches...hmm...any reason for that number:P Not that I'm complaining, mind ;) (_Sonic: See? I told people it wasn't just me who lost it trying to defend my friends!_) Yeah...glad to hear you gave those jerks what they deserve ;)**

**Asher Tye: Yeah, why is Sekko making drugged makeup:P You're right in one respect; it has nothing to do with the slaves. **

**SaffraEchidna: Thanks; I'm happy you liked the ending :D**

**XTailsX: (_Knuckles: At last, someone else who doesn't want me to die! Sonic: Oh sure, don't bother threatening her with death if she kills ME off!_) Yes, guys, whatever you say ;) As for who'll live and who'll die...will they reach Tails in time to save him (or indeed, will he save himself?) Find out now :P And please don't hurt me. At least, don't hurt me so bad I can't write ;)**

**Toboe16: (blushes) Wow, thanks :D And that's okay, you're not supposed to like Raker ;)**

_Guardian's Log no. 11480_

_Alright. So now we're landed with Raker as well as Bait; and I'll admit one thing; it's lucky we had Bait with us. I wouldn't know where to begin in disarming a bomb...although if I'm going to be honest, Bait doesn't either._

_Well..._

_No, that's not fair. Kid did his best, after all; he managed to pull out one right cable, which is more than I could have done. But if Raker hadn't caused that little incident...bottom line, we'd all be dead. Bait doesn't know about this, though, and I'm sure as hell not gonna be the one to tell him. Right now the kid's as happy as a warrior with six targets. He's starting to get annoying, but if anyone has the right to be proud of himself, I guess it's Bait. He's firmly convinced he saved all our lives. In a roundabout way, I suppose he did; if he hadn't been there, Raker wouldn't have been and wouldn't have smashed the kid up. Bait would've yanked the red cable and...well, that'd be all. I don't like that look in Raker's eyes though; I'd bet everything I own, including the Master Emerald, that he's planning on making trouble. Maybe not to stop us reaching Tails, but I don't think he's given up on getting his biological punchbag (aka Bait) back yet._

_Bait also managed to open the vault door. It's a good thing his lockpicking skills are better than his bomb disarming. I have to admit, he really has come in handy on this trip. There was no treasure, nothing except an elevator shaft. I glided both Sonic and Bait down it – Raker can jump and break his damn legs as far as I'm concerned – and now we're in some hell of a rock maze._

_Tails is here. I can feel it._

_--Knuckles the Echidna_

_My Memoirs by Me_

_So who really saved us? Bait knew about the explosives, but if Raker hadn't done what he did the kid would've yanked the wrong cable and I wouldn't be here to write this...and whatever else happens, Bait can't ever find that out. It's the first time I've seen that kid happy – really happy – and I'm not going to spoil it for him._

_This place is hell on Mobius. It reminds me of Robotnik's dungeon. You can't see anyone (though that's probably going to change as we get further in) but you can still hear the screams and the sobbing. I'm not sure I can do this._

_Then again, I think Tails is down here. This place has a vaguely familiar feel to it. I can't freeze now. Not now._

_Damn, Knux, how about another bout of carrying me kicking and screaming like you did with Amy? I could really use the help in this place._

_--Sonic the Hedgehog_

_Bait's Jurnal_

_I did it! I saved Sonic and Nux! Their was a bom and I dissarmed it! AND I piked the lok on the volt dor! And Raker sed Id never be good for nuthing!_

_Maybe Sonic'll let me hang owt with him sum mor after this. Maybe he'll let me stay even wen he finds Tails agen and dusnt need me. I hope, I hope, I hope._

_--Bait the Jakkel_

Sonic had frozen.

It wasn't noticeable unless you were looking hard – after Bait had opened the vault door and the group had descended into the tunnels, the path had branched four different ways and none of the others were moving either – but it had happened.

"There's four of us," Bait suggested. "We could split up."

Knuckles turned a killing stare on the jackal. "There's _three_ of us, kid; if I don't trust you not to betray Tails again, I sure as hell don't trust your jerk brother since all this crap seems to be his fault."

Raker spread his hands. "Not my fault. Not even my idea, like I said. Come on, Knuckles, there's no real reason for you not to trust me."

This statement was so outlandish that for a moment Knuckles could only stare at the jackal.

"Sonic, are you hearing this?" he said eventually and then, when there was no reply, "Sonic?"

Sonic didn't answer.

"Oh man, Sonic, we don't have time for you to do your catatonic routine now! Snap out of it!"

"Mister?" Bait looked up into Sonic's face. "'Sokay, mister, honest. I stopped the bomb. You ain't gotta be scared no more."

_I'm not scared_, Sonic said, or tried to say; his tongue seemed to have glued itself to the roof of his mouth. He _was_ scared, a fear that had nothing to do with the bomb (although the pure chance of that escape made his skin crawl whenever he really thought about it) and everything to do with what had happened in Robotnik's fortress. The darkness...the occasional scream or sobbing from unseen throats...above all the atmosphere comprised of misery, fear and a dull kind of hate. This prison was made from rock, not metal, but that made no difference. Every instinct was screaming at him to get out while he still could, to turn and bolt for the safety of the outside. He didn't, but he couldn't make himself go forward either.

"Mister, c'mon, you gotta find your buddy." Bait tugged at Sonic's arm. "An' don't worry 'bout no bombs, mister; I c'n disarm 'em. I disarmed the last one."

"_Sure_ you did," Raker drawled. Bait glared at him.

"You're jus' _jealous_ 'cause I did it an' you dint!"

Raker folded his arms across his chest. "Oh _please_. I pay attention to things even if you don't." He smirked. "And guess what, Bait? You pulled the wrong cable."

"Shut up, Raker," Knuckles said in a low voice.

"No, I won't shut up." Now Raker was wearing a sanctimonious little smile that was worse than the smirk. "I think the kid deserves the truth, don't you? I never thought an echidna would lie. Didn't know if you _could_ lie, to be honest."

"You're the liar!" Bait said heatedly. "If I'd pulled the trip we'd all be dead now an' you _know_ it!"

"Ohh, I never said you pulled the _trip_," Raker answered. "But you had two cables to choose from and since you provoked me into attacking you like that, you had no idea which one was which. You tried to grab the red cable – the _real_ red cable – and you pulled the right cable out."

"Yeah, see?"

"The right cable was the yellow one. I saw it, and these guys did too." Raker shook his head, clicking his tongue pityingly. "Dear, dear. It's a good thing _someone_ tells you the truth, Bait, or where would you be now?"

Watching the younger jackal's face, Knuckles could actually pinpoint the moment when Bait's euphoria dissolved; the kid's face dropped and the happy light in his eyes snuffed out to be replaced by something darker, a painful expression. Bait turned to Knuckles.

"Mister..." he said pleadingly. "Mister, it's not true, is it? It wunt the yellow cable I pulled to save ev'ryone. It's not true, right? Right?"

Knuckles met the jackal's huge, appealing eyes and took a deep breath.

"It's true," he said very quietly.

"What?" Sonic came back to himself just in time to hear the echidna's words. "What's true?"

"Mister?" Bait seized Sonic's arm and in his semi-panic, the hedgehog came within a heartbeat of spin dashing the jackal to pieces before regaining control of himself. "Mister, I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry."

Sonic eyed him warily, but with a glint of humour in his eyes, glad of the diversion. "Why? What've you done this time?"

"I...I screwed up back there. On the bomb. I pulled the wrong cable."

"If that was true, we'd be dead," Sonic said. Bait shook his head.

"Uh uh. I know what happened now, mister. It wunt the red cable that was safe, it was the yellow one. If I'da pulled the red one, we'd be dead. I'm sorry, honest; I thought the yellow was the trip."

Sonic looked down at the jackal's stricken face and couldn't think of anything to say, although all the time he could keep thinking about that, he could pretend not to hear the occasional scream from up ahead. This one couldn't be blamed on Raker, either; it was Bait's mistake, pure and simple. Sonic frowned slightly; he knew Bait hadn't seen the cable and Sonic himself hadn't wanted to burst the kid's bubble, so...

"Damn you, Knuckles." Sonic spoke the words softly, but there was no mistaking the venom there. "Damn you all the way to hell, you and your precious honour. You couldn't have lied to him just this once?"

"Knuckles dint tell me, mister," Bait protested. "Raker did an' when I asked your buddy he jus' said it was true." He dropped his gaze. "I'da looked anyway after what Raker said."

"Is my word not good enough for you?" Raker drawled. He shook his head. "Forget Bait; after the hell these two have been through since you joined them, I should've called you Jinx. Everything you touch or have anything to do with turns to crap, doesn't it? Freak."

Sonic stared. Raker's words sparked off a very old memory, one he'd all but forgotten.

"You! You were the one who tried to kick sand in his eyes when he hit me!"

Raker stared back at Sonic with understandable perplexity.

"What?"

"Raker's kicked sand in lotsa eyes, mister," Bait volunteered. "'S prob'ly hard for him to remember a pacific kick."

"Specific," Sonic corrected automatically, then returned his stare to Raker. "I'm talking about Tails. I'm talking about when I first met him, back in Emerald Hill Zone." In fact, 'met' was too kind a word; Tails had attempted to pounce on a dozing and unsuspecting Sonic, who had inadvertently sat up at the crucial moment and got a two-tailed fox cub to the head, which had sent them both rolling down the beach. Actually, now that Sonic thought about it, introductory meetings with all his current friends seemed to be physically painful. You couldn't count the two encounters he'd had with Tails prior to being flattened; the four-year-old fox had been too shy to do anything other than just stare at him bashfully. Sonic had started to develop something of a complex about that.

"Tails knocked me down, fell to one side and you were there," Sonic said to Raker. "I knew I recognised your face from somewhere; you tried to kick sand in his eyes. What happened to that civet who was leader at the time?"

"Caud?" Raker shrugged. "He fell in love with a female who wanted him to give up the gang, so he did. They emigrated to Sleeping Egg Zone on South Island and set up a bakery together, proving that Caud always was the pathetic fool I took him to be."

"Only you would think that," Sonic said tonelessly. "Knuckles, we'll cover this place faster if we split up. I'll take Bait with me; you'll be okay to search on your own, right?"

"I'll pretend you never asked me that, Sonic."

"Good."

"Mister?" Bait looked at Sonic, who sighed. He'd dared to hope that the kid had got over the _mister_ thing back in the CDA.

"Yeah?"

"Why don't we split up three ways? We'd search a lot faster then."

Sonic glanced at him. "Yeah, we would, but if someone found you and tried to take _you_ prisoner, we'd never stand a chance in hell of finding you again."

Bait shifted embarrassedly. "Dint know you cared, mister."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Of course I _care_, you little idiot! And besides, if you were on your own...I don't trust Raker."

Raker spread his hands out to the side. "What's not to trust, Sonic? And what am I to do while you three are gallivanting around the tunnels?"

"I have a few suggestions," Knuckles said acerbically.

"I wasn't talking to you," Raker shot back, then winced as the echidna seized him by the scruff of the neck and half shoved, half threw him into one of the tunnels.

"Go on. Get the hell out of my sight or I'll kick your tail up so far you'll be using it to wipe your nose. Go find some of your pathetic lackeys to boss around."

"I already have." Raker fixed Bait with a pointed look, one which the younger jackal returned boldly.

"You go piss in a hornet's nest, Raker. I told you; I'm not playin' no more. C'mon Sonic, let's go find your buddy."

As Sonic went past, Bait following, Raker shot out a hand and seized his brother's arm in a painful lock.

"Brave words, kid," he said, too softly for either Sonic or Knuckles to hear. "Tell me something; are you going to be this brave when your new handler isn't around to protect you?"

"Sonic's always gonna be around," Bait answered defiantly. He knew better than to struggle; last time he'd fought this particular hold, Raker had snapped his arm in two like a dry stick.

"Yes, but he won't always be with _you_, will he? Or..." Raker smiled coldly. "Oh, how sweet. You honestly thought he was going to keep you with him? He could have any sidekick he wanted. Why would he let you stick around after Tails comes back?"

"Ha!" Bait planted both feet firmly on the ground – he didn't think Raker was above a little kidnapping – and put his free hand on his hip. "'Sall _you_ know. Knux is gonna take Tails with _him_ up to some island or other for recov'ry, so I'll still be stayin' with Sonic."

"Of course you will," Raker answered. "At least, until Tails', ah, _recov'ry_ is complete." He snickered quietly, clicking his tongue. "Poor little Bait. You really are incredibly stupid, aren't you? Let me tell you something; I know for a fact that Tails has saved Sonic's life several times. He builds and fixes that beloved plane of Sonic's and can rewire just about anything you care to name. How are you planning to compete with that, lil bro?" There was none of the affection that Sonic used in Raker's delivery of that nickname; instead he sneered the words, making them an insult. "You've almost killed them three times through your own stupidity; first that fiasco with the bridge, then Oil Ocean and most recently that bomb." He shook his head. "I don't think Sonic's going to want you anywhere near him after this is done, for his own personal safety."

"Oil Ocean wunt _my _fault. You was the one who chucked the match!"

"Only because you screwed up. If you hadn't left, I wouldn't have had to follow you and I wouldn't have had to do what I did." Raker shook his head. "If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times; you don't have the brains to think for yourself. Look what happened; Sonic and Knuckles almost drowned, almost blew up and – as I understand it – some fifteen thousand individuals are dead."

"Sonic said that wunt my fault," Bait repeated stubbornly, but he couldn't hide the flicker of uncertainty that Raker's words had conjured inside him. The older jackal smirked slightly, well aware of what was going through the kid's mind.

"Of course he did. He'd say whatever it took to stop you walking. You don't imagine for one minute he _believes_ it, do you? He'd have said he did it himself if it made you cooperate." Raker's smirk widened. "Don't you get it? He's _using_ you. Once he has Tails back – and it might take a while if the brat's recovering, I'll give you that – he's not going to need you anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if he brought you back himself."

"You're a _liar_!" Bait tried to wrench his arm out of Raker's hold, but the older jackal twisted until Bait's arm was a bare half inch away from breaking. For a moment he just held it there, maintaining the cruel pressure before speaking.

"I'm a what?" Dangerously soft.

"Jerk," Sonic said clearly from where he was standing in the tunnel, staring hard at Raker, having finally noticed Bait's absence. "Also a coward and a bully. Get your hands off him _now_, or I swear I'll break every bone in your body...and don't think I can't do it just because I'm not as strong as Knuckles."

Raker heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Again with the interference. Listen, Sonic, this is _family_ business, alright? I don't expect you to understand, but after our parents died I was left in charge. Incidentally, did the bait tell you what happened to our mother? How she killed herself rather than live with this piece of crud?" He nodded towards Bait in a friendly fashion.

"He mentioned it," Sonic said. The hedgehog didn't think he could ever remember being this angry; every muscle in his body was so tight he was quivering slightly. "I didn't believe it then," he added, "and I don't now."

Raker shrugged. "That's neither here nor there. But surely you'll agree that being responsible for this kid gives me the right to discipline him."

"It doesn't give you the right to _hurt_ him," Sonic said. His temper – something he usually had well under control – was thrashing around just underneath the surface, begging to be unleashed. "I'm telling you one last time," he said in tones of iron control, "_let him go_."

"Or what?" Raker yanked Bait in front of him to act as a shield. "You better be at least as fast as they say you are, Sonic, or whatever you do to me you'll end up doing to the kid as well."

Bait barely saw Sonic move, and Raker definitely had no time to dodge before something rammed him hard in the hip, sending him flying to crack his head on the rock wall.

Bait stared up at Sonic, awed. "Mister, how'd you...what..." He swallowed. "I dint even see you _move_!"

"Most people don't," Sonic said.

"What'd you do? Spin him? I heard all 'bout your sonic spin dash, mister, is that what it was?"

Sonic shook his head. "Nothing as dangerous as that. I just kicked him. Admittedly I kicked him at thirty miles an hour, but he'll survive it. C'mon. Let's get moving."

Some distance down another tunnel (and completely oblivious to the drama which had just unfolded behind him) Knuckles pulled out the Chaos Emerald. Like called to like, as the saying went, and in this case it was literally true; a steady ball of yellow light inside the gem was pointing him northeast. He knew the people down here wouldn't have found it; the yellow Chaos Emerald was the one which empowered its wielder with invisibility, and although Tails had no idea how to use it, the Emerald was the only one which could turn _itself_ invisible if the holder desired it...and Knuckles had no doubt that Tails would have desired that very much.

The echidna heard a whimpering sound from down one of the tunnels. It wasn't Tails – according to the Emerald, he was much further away – but maybe whoever was down there could point him in the right direction. The Emerald was invaluable as a general guide, but a general guide was _all_ it was.

He ducked into the narrow passageway, squeezing between rough stone, crabbing sideways in places before emerging in a wider cavern.

He wasn't prepared for the sight of his first slave. Granted Tails was a kid, and therefore logically there would be other kids down here, but Knuckles hadn't been prepared to come face to face with one.

He also wasn't prepared for the kid's pickaxe to come whizzing through the air towards him, but his body was slightly more up on current events and threw him against the far wall.

"Hey, hey!" Knuckles held up both hands and backed away. "I'm on your side, kid! I'm looking for a friend of mine—"

"They put him to digging the deeper tunnels." The iguana spoke rapidly, as though talking was forbidden...which, Knuckles conceded, it might well have been. A slightly grim smile appeared on his face.

"Pretty astute of you, kid, since I've not told you what he looks like. Or have you been expecting me?"

"There's only one person an echidna would come down here to find."

"That's not answering my question." Seeing how focused the kid was on his excavation, Knuckles reached out and twisted the pickaxe out of the lizard's grasp. The iguana's head snapped around to stare at it with a strange mixture of fear and envy, and Knuckles was prepared to bet everything he owned (except perhaps the Master Emerald) that the kid wished he could handle the tool with such ease.

"Give it back!" He started towards the echidna, but stumbled and Knuckles saw that the chains around the iguana's wrists and ankles had chafed right through the skin, causing the blood to trickle down in rivulets. Judging from the dried streaks, it had been like that for some time, and the best the kid could manage was a painfully slow shuffle.

"Do you know a two-tailed fox?" he asked.

The iguana nodded, staring hard at the pickaxe as though trying to will it back into his hand.

"Yeah. They put him to work in one of the minor tunnels as well. Now lemme get back to work, _please_. If they come and find me slacking off, I'll get whipped, and so will you if they catch you."

Knuckles' temper flared.

"Let them try." He shook his head. "How is Tails?"

"Pretty dumb. They offered to let him go, can you believe that? All he had to do was read something to them and he could go free. He refused. He's still alive, but I dunno how long for." The iguana looked over his shoulder, then back at Knuckles. "What kinda idiot turns down a chance like that, huh?"

_A brave one_, Knuckles thought, but didn't say. Instead he asked, "You'd like to get out of here?"

A shrug. "Dunno. I'd like to be able to eat and sleep when I want, but I dunno how I'd survive out there." He considered. "Though I guess I'd like to try. I wasn't much more'n a hatchling when they brought me down here. Now gimme the pickaxe. I gotta keep on schedule."

Knuckles held it just out of reach. "I'll give you something better. Tell me which way to go from here and I'll take the chains off and tell _you_ how to get out."

The lizard looked at him askance. "Can I ask you something? Are you an overseer or just plain nuts? Nobody gets out and you won't get these chains off without the key."

Knuckles rolled his eyes and laid the pickaxe against the wall. "Hold out your arm, kid." When the lizard obeyed, he took hold of the cuff on that wrist in both hands, paused to gather his strength, then literally ripped it apart. Folding his arms, he stared hard at the iguana. "Satisfied? I'll do the other three if you want."

He could see the kid was tempted, although he did a good job of hiding it.

"So I get out. If Sekko doesn't—"

"Sekko won't be doing anything, I don't think, until he has his two front teeth replaced and his office repaired. You don't need to worry about him." On impulse, the echidna held out his hand. "Do we have a deal?" He paused for effect. "Or do you just want to stay down here digging out rocks and getting whipped for the rest of your life?"

"I get out, and then what? I've got no money, no food, nowhere to go, nothing."

Knuckles could have screamed in exasperation, even as he admired the lizard's cool head. Didn't this reptile know that every second wasted was a second Tails might be getting hurt even more?

"You'll go up a flight of steps into the basement, then up again into the main office. Go out through the main doors and you'll be in the Scrap Brain Zone. Ask someone to point you in the direction of the CDA and when you get there..." The echidna hesitated, then told himself _what the hell_. "When you get there, ask for Espio. Tell him Knuckles sent you there for a place to stay, and when he asks the usual questions like where did you come from, tell him the complete truth. I think you'll find him a lot more sympathetic if you do. If he asks about expenses, tell him I'll pay when I get back." Given what he knew about Espio's personality, Knuckles rather thought that the expenses in this case would be nonexistent, but he didn't want to risk it. Fixing the iguana with a stern look, he added, "Now, do we have a deal or not? Tell me which way to go from here and I'll take the rest of those chains off."

The iguana hesitated, then nodded abruptly. "Sure. Okay. I dunno exactly which one they put him in, but to get to the minor tunnel network, you go down this passage—" he pointed— "and then keep to the right. Someone else can probably point you in the right direction and that's all I can tell you. Now please..." He held out his other hand hopefully and Knuckles nodded and tore off the chains, then reached down to free the lizard's feet and pointed back the way he'd come.

"Go down there, turn left at the end and keep straight until you come to the stairs. You know where to go from there. And...thanks. Espio, right?"

"Yeah." Knuckles pulled out the Emerald again and broke into a run, picking up speed until he was going full pelt. He didn't know why, but he had a nasty feeling that he was running out of time.

Two miles away, down a minor tunnel that most of the other slaves didn't even know existed, Tails tried vainly to catch his breath, an act made impossible both by the iron collar fastened tightly around his neck and attached to a short chain which ran along the wall, and by the fact that – unlike before – Scarface or one of his friends was watching him constantly. The slightest sign of hesitation and it was the whip, still only one blow, but a far harder one than before.

As always, the same overseer returned to make the same offer. This time Tails told him to 'shove it up your ass sideways and sit on it', a favourite expression of Knuckles, and threw a rock at One-Eye, scoring a direct hit on his cheekbone. When they sent the fox out of the room that time, his right hand was dangling loosely from a broken wrist, which meant he now had to chip rock with one hand, using a tool he'd struggled to lift with two. He was drained, all but asleep and still working. That was the worst part of it; they wouldn't let him sleep. Sometimes, in spite of himself, he thought he'd translate every book in that stupid library if they'd only let him rest first. As far as the lash went, he was used to it by now and more often than not too tired to really register it.

He heard footsteps and sensed more than saw the group surrounding him, the same group which had been picking on him ever since he'd first arrived in this hell. That was one of the things he hated most about these tunnels; there was no room to fly. Not that he could anyway with a broken tail, but still...

Tails didn't turn to acknowledge them. Possibly a big mistake, but he was determined not to earn another cut with a whip. And Scarface seemed to have a personal grudge against Tails; he beat the fox far more often than he did the other slaves, and on the slightest pretext. The target had changed a little as well; now Scarface no longer struck him on the back but on the backs of the legs, often – intentionally or otherwise – slashing at the fox's broken tail as well.

"Hey you." The sneer in the gang leader's voice was unmissable, but Tails still didn't respond.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you." Someone seized him and spun him around roughly; the leader again. "We got orders from the head boss himself, and his patience has run out."

Tails summoned up as much energy as he could to answer, "Yeah? What's he gonna do, take away my TV privileges?" The words were badly slurred through exhaustion, but understandable.

"Close, but not quite. More like he's gonna take away your breathing privileges."

Tails forced a laugh. "Ooh, smart. Did you come up with that by yourself or didja have help?"

A fist closed on his bitten ear and he yelped before he could stop himself; the pain was excruciating.

"You wanna watch what you're saying, freak. Your bigshot friend Sonic ain't around to save you now." The leader smiled broadly, then his jaw abruptly dropped. "What the—"

A fist capable of punching through rock rammed into his head, pitching him twenty feet.

"He has other bigshot friends," Knuckles said coolly.

The pickaxe slid from Tails' suddenly numb fingers to clatter on the rock and he stared wordlessly at the echidna. Oh boy. This was it; he'd finally cracked. Pain, thirst, starvation and most importantly, the lack of sleep, had driven him to hallucinate. Slowly, he shook his head.

"No. You're not...you can't be..."

"Why not?" Knuckles asked calmly. "C'mon kid; I wrecked an executive office for you. You could at least pretend you're happy to see me."

"You're not real." Tails forced the words out through stiff lips; he wanted so much for it to be real, wanted so much to believe...

"If I wasn't real, could I do this?" The hallucination reached out with a closed fist and nudged Tails' shoulder, one of the very few gestures that echidnas used to demonstrate affection or comfort.

Tails seized the fist tightly in his good hand and squeezed, still unable to fully believe. What would Knuckles be doing all the way down here? That was just too much of a coincidence.

A slight smirk appeared on the echidna's face. "Here, let me get those for you." Reaching across, he caught hold of the chain running between the two cuffs and snapped it in two like a thread.

Tails lifted his left hand – the right was still too sore to move easily – and stared at the length of chain now dangling, then tried to swing his hand behind him. He failed, but only because his raw back was too painful; there was no chain binding his movements now.

"Knuckles?" For the first time since being discovered in the echidna library, Tails felt hope welling up inside him. "Knux, is it...are you..." He reached out with a tentative hand and poked Knuckles' chest. It was solid. Solid and warm.

"Convinced?" Knuckles asked wryly. "Or do you want to prod me some more?"

For a few minutes Tails simply stared at him, then something in him seemed to crack and he buried the echidna in a hug so tight Knuckles felt his ribs creak.

"Knux, how'd you get here? How'd you find me?" A terrifying thought occurred and the fox looked up, fear in his eyes. "You're not...you're not a..." He swallowed. "They didn't get you too, did they?"

"Hell no!" Knuckles started to return the hug but Tails yelped, a high sound of white-hot agony that the echidna had never heard before. Contrite, he snatched his hands away. "Jeez, I'm sorry, kid; I didn't think. Where're you hurt?" Looking at Tails, he added, "Where're you hurt the most, I mean?"

"My hand. An' my tail. An' my back an' my legs." Tails seized one of Knuckles' arms and dragged it over his shoulders again. It hurt, hurt worse than the beatings, but he wasn't about to let the echidna go. "An' my gut hurts too, Knux, but that's only 'cause I haven't eaten for ages."

"Which one did this to you?" Knuckles asked, his tone deadly soft. Tails shivered.

"All of 'em. Scarface's the worst; he hates me 'cause I wouldn't give in and act like a good little slave. He..." Tails broke off. "He should be around here. He's watching me, Knux, always watching, never get a moment's peace or..." The rest of Tails' words were lost in a yawn so wide Knuckles could see down the back of his throat. "Tired, Knux. Real tired."

"Yeah. Yeah, I know. Can you walk?"

"Sure, I'll walk," Tails said determinedly. "If it means getting outta here, I'll walk. We are getting outta here, right Knux?"

"You bet your two-tailed ass we are." Knuckles considered. "Can you grip? With your arms and legs, I mean?"

Tails nodded. "Uh huh. Well, I can grip with one arm, my other's kinda...well..." He gave up trying to explain and held up his broken wrist.

"They did that to you down here?" Knuckles said very quietly.

"Yeah, cause I wouldn't tell 'em what they wanted to know." Tails looked around. "Knux...can we talk about it later? Please? They'll find you any minute now an' I don't want you to get stuck down here too."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right." The echidna turned away and crouched down. "Okay, hop on."

"Huh?"

"Climb on my back. I'll take you out of here."

Something in that touched a nerve in Tails; he backed off, shaking his head. "Uh uh, no thanks Knuckles, it's okay, I can walk just fine—"

"The hell you can." Knuckles straightened up and turned to stare at Tails, who was now backed into a corner and trying not to jar his broken tail. The echidna's face creased into a slight frown. "Kid, it's okay, I'm not gonna hurtcha." He leaned against the rock wall, arms crossed. "What'd they do to your tail, anyway?"

Tails shrugged, and Knuckles was pleased to note that he seemed to be relaxing a little.

"They said they didn't want me flying away. They chained me up and then one of 'em pulled my tail out straight on a rock an' another one took a sledgehammer an'...an'..." His voice trailed off and Knuckles tightened his lips.

"I _see_."

"I think it's broken in more'n one place, Knux. They pounded it three times an' never in the same place." Tails emerged from his corner and came to stand in front of Knuckles, looking up at him pleadingly. "Can we go now before they come?"

Knuckles took a deep breath. "Yeah, kid, we can go, but I'm still going to have to carry you. We're going to need to move fast, and looking like you do now I'm not sure you can keep up. C'mon; I carried you on my back up the side of a power plant, didn't I? How's this any different?"

Tails shivered. "It jus'...Knux, can't I cling onto your front instead?"

Knuckles couldn't for the life of him see why his front was any different to his back – unlike Sonic, he didn't even have quills there, and it wasn't as if Tails had never done it before – but he shrugged. If that's how the kid wanted it, fine. It probably wasn't such a bad idea anyway; at least this way he could catch Tails if the fox fell.

"Sure. But you'll have to hang on; I think I'm gonna need my arms to get us out of here."

Tails reached up and wrapped both arms around Knuckles' neck, clinging on with one and letting the other – the one with the broken wrist – just dangle over the echidna's shoulder. Knuckles choked and Tails eased his hold the tiniest bit, just enough to let him draw breath, winding both legs and his one good tail around Knuckles' waist.

"Knux...the other slaves..."

"One told me how to get here, kid. I got him out, sent him to the CDA. Espio and the others'll take care of him. We can't help the other slaves, not now. Not yet. Right now all I want to do is get you and me outta here. You ready?"

Tails swallowed once, then nodded.

"Okay kid. Let's go." Knuckles turned and set off back the way he'd come as fast as he could without jerking the fox too badly.

"Are you alone, Knux?"

"Sonic's with me. Well, sorta; we split up to look for you." That was a point, Knuckles realised for the first time, how was he supposed to contact Sonic to let him know he had Tails safe? Well...he could deal with that later. Right now, all that mattered was getting Tails out and to the CDA's premises; the hedgehog could take care of himsef.

"Sonic came?" Tails looked up at Knuckles, eyes huge. "Is that why you took so long, Knux?"

"Don't start," Knuckles told him sharply. "Sonic's fine."

"Yeah, 'part from being a stupid _cripple_ who hates everyone."

"Tails..."

"Well, he is."

"He's not anymore, and if you're gonna go into anti-Sonic mode it can wait until we're back and I'm out the room. I didn't come all this way to listen to petty complaints and for your information, if it hadn't been for Sonic I'm not sure I'd have found you at all. You got that?"

Tails didn't answer, largely because he was half asleep. As Knuckles watched, the fox started to fall, and it was only the echidna's quick reflexes that saved him from crashing onto the ground. Yelping in pain, Tails jerked awake.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I...I..." He caught sight of Knuckles' expression and cringed, more in shame than fear, turning his head away. Great. So much for impressing Knuckles. He'd be lucky now if the echidna didn't just dump him on his behind in disgust and walk out.

"It's okay, kid," Knuckles told him quietly. "Go on back to sleep."

Tails obeyed, closing his eyes and snuggling into the echidna's chest, asleep within seconds. Looking at him, Knuckles tightened his jaw.

_Poor kid. They must've worked him to exhaustion down here. Bastards._

As he rounded the final corner, he caught sight of the people waiting there and froze. Even through the haze of sleep, some of the echidna's tension communicated itself to Tails; the fox stirred and opened groggy eyes.

"Huh? Why've we..." He broke off. Knuckles felt a slight tension in the fox's body, but otherwise, Tails seemed calm enough.

"I see you found your friend." Limping heavily for some reason, Raker threaded his way through the crowd – both slaves and overseers – and came to stand in front of them. "I took your advice, Knuckles. I went and found some...what did you call them? Pathetic lackeys? They were very interested to hear about your arrival. We already dealt with your friends." He shrugged. "Sonic put up a damn good fight, and you made a good attempt to escape, but it's over now. I hope nobody outside is going to miss you." Raker smiled. "What am I saying? Of course they won't. Nobody even knows you're here."

"You killed Sonic?" Tails said hoarsely.

"No he didn't." Knuckles stared hard at Raker, although he couldn't help comparing the genuine fear in the kid's tones to his comments earlier. "He's just having a sick joke with you."

"Why would I joke about something as serious as _that_?" Raker shook his head. "He's dead. Gave me a nasty kick on the hip – completely unprovoked, I might add – but since he's too much of a coward to actually kill anyone, he was easy to deal with. I'd let you see the body, but..." He shook his head again sadly, implying that there wasn't much of a body left to see.

"Don't listen," Knuckles told Tails, but it was too late.

"I gotta see this, Knux."

"No you don't. It's a lie."

"And how would you know?" Raker asked pleasantly. "You weren't even here when it happened. Too busy hunting for your friend, weren't you?"

"Knux, let go!" Now Tails was struggling with surprising strength for someone who'd been out like a light not five minutes before. A thrashing foot caught Knuckles painfully in the groin – whether by accident or design he didn't know – and he dropped Tails, bending over. Freed, the fox limped as fast as he could towards the crowd, scanning it desperately for some sign of Sonic.

"Tails! Tails, get your ass back over here this minute!" Fear, not anger, made the echidna's voice sharp. If Tails got swallowed up, he could lose him again to this twisted place and this time he might not be able to find him. "Dammit all to hell, Tails, I'm not kidding! Get back here _now_!"

Tails ignored him, still continuing on his feverish way. Knuckles swore loudly and with considerable imagination for a full five seconds, then dug his claws into the rock and hauled himself up it. It wasn't easy to spot the kid from this height, but eventually he caught sight of him and launched off from the wall, flaring his spines to control his descent and finally landing – gently – on top of Tails.

The fox's reaction took him completely by surprise. Knuckles had expected yelps, accusations, even a recurrence of the pounding Tails had tried to give him not five minutes ago. He wasn't prepared for Tails to suddenly twist around in his hold, seemingly oblivious to the pain in his broken tail and wrist and lunge for his throat with open jaws. Reflexes saved him and he jerked back, so the bite aimed for his jugular sliced into his chest instead. Seemingly not content with this, Tails continued thrashing around, hitting, kicking and biting everything within reach. It was only with considerable effort that the echidna managed to shove him away long enough to bring one hand around and deliver a roundhouse blow to the fox's jaw.

It should perhaps be noted that Knuckles genuinely had no intention of hurting Tails, that he'd acted partly out of self-defence and partly out of necessity, believing the kid to be hysterical. But that didn't change the fact that in the heat of the moment, Knuckles used considerably more force than he'd meant to. The blow not only landed firmly on its intended target, it knocked Tails off his feet and three yards down the passageway where he cracked his head on a rock and lay still.

Someone seized Knuckles' arm in a death grip. It came as no great surprise to the echidna that it was Sonic. The hedgehog's eyes were narrowed into jade slits, although the fury in them wasn't meant for the echidna.

"Take Tails, Knuckles! Get him out of this _now_! I don't care if he bites through your groin, I don't care if he claws out your eyes or shatters both your knees, get him out of here and don't let him go until you're both clear! I'll hold them off down here! And I don't care whether you like him or not; get Bait out as well."

"Mister, I wanna stay an'—"

"_No_, Bait. Go with Knuckles. That's an order. I'll be fine, but this'll be a hell of a lot easier if I don't have to worry about you as well as the others!"

Someone reached out for Tails' unconscious form and that spurred Knuckles into action; he seized Bait in one hand, raced over, dealt the unfortunate perpetrator a blow that knocked him over in a full somersault and then grabbed Tails and ran for the exit, slinging the fox over one shoulder and clambering up the wall, carrying both Bait and Tails with him. He could hear a clamour from beneath him but paid no attention; the important thing was to get out.

They reached the top of the tunnel and Knuckles shook Bait off his shoulder like a fly. To his surprise, the jackal stayed where he was.

"Are you coming?" Knuckles demanded.

"No," Bait said bluntly. "I'm stayin' to wait for Sonic. You go, mister; I ain't leavin' 'til your buddy comes up. He might need help."

Knuckles opened his mouth to argue, closed it, opened it again just long enough to say, "Whatever," and ran for the exit.

He made it outside without being challenged, and headed for the nearest park. After even a short time in those tunnels, he felt he needed nature, needed the smell of plants to flush the stench of the mines out of his nostrils.

Knuckles sat down on a bench, shifting his hold on Tails and moving him from over his shoulder onto the bench. The motion seemed to stir Tails into consciousness again; he opened his eyes and stared at Knuckles.

"Wow. What happened to _you_?"

"That's a bit rich coming from you, isn't it?"

Tails frowned. "Yeah, but you weren't all torn and bloody when you arrived. How'd you get like that, Knux?"

_Does he really not remember?_ Knuckles frowned quizzically and then said, "You did it."

"_Me_?" Tails' jaw dropped. "Knux, I wouldn't, not ever!"

"Yeah, well, you did." Pain was making Knuckles short-tempered. "If you didn't want to be rescued, you didn't have to try and _eat _me. You could've just said no."

"Even if...Knux, I'd never deliberately do something like that."

"I know full well you didn't bite me here deliberately, kid; you were aiming for my damn throat. As it is, I think you got everything but. You might wanna work on your speed and your aim." Knuckles considered this. "On second thoughts, please don't; it was a close enough call as it was."

Tails shook his head, staring. "Knux, I don't know what you're talking about, honest. I'd never bite you, not seriously. I mean, I know I, uh, I hit you down there, but I never mean it when I attack you, you know I don't."

Knuckles extended an arm for inspection, turning it slightly so the fox could see the hideous bite on the underside.

"You call _this_ not meaning it? Like I said, if I hadn't ducked at the last second, you'd have torn out my throat." He snorted. "Nice way to greet a friend." He looked at his arm and started sucking the bite moodily. "If you got rabies down there and you've passed it onto me," he added somewhat indistinctly, "you're the first person I'm gonna pound when I go nuts!"

"Knuckles, _please_." Tails' voice broke slightly on the last word. "I'm sorry, honest I am, but I swear I really don't remember doing it. What happened before? Can you remember?"

The echidna stopped sucking his bleeding arm and glanced up, frowning slightly. "Yeah, I remember. I'd lost you in the crowd, and I was terrified they were going to drag you away with Sonic, so I climbed a wall and glided down to land on top of you."

Tails, who had opened his mouth, shut it again with a snap, then opened it again and said, "...Oh," in a very small voice.

"Something you wanna tell me?"

Tails shook his head violently. "No! I mean, uh, no. Just...please don't do that again, okay?"

Knuckles snorted. "No fear. I'm many things, but suicidal is not one of them."

Tails looked away, shivering slightly. "I'm sorry, Knux. I'm real sorry. It just...I only..."

"Flipped," the echidna said coolly, then seeing the stricken expression on the fox's face, shook his head. "Forget about it, kid. It doesn't matter."

Tails reached up to rub the side of his face, wincing. "My head hurts."

"Uh. Yeah." It was Knuckles' turn to look embarrassed. "That's probably my fault. You were doing your best to rip out my throat, I thought you were hysterical so I slapped you. I think maybe I gave it a little too much."

Tails shook his head, eyes wide. "Knux, I never meant to. I don't remember any of it. All I remember is going into the crowd to look for Sonic and then I woke up here. Where's here?"

"Scrap Brain Zone. You feel up to taking a little walk, Tails?"

Tails hesitated. "Where we going?"

"The CDA. They got offices and an apartment here that they're letting us use—now what?" Knuckles said, seeing Tails shake his head.

"I can't stay with them, Knux. Suppose one of them pats me on the back and I flip again? I swear I didn't mean to attack you."

"I know you didn't," Knuckles said, somewhat irritably; he could foresee Tails swearing the same thing almost every minute of the half hour journey back to the apartment. "You didn't freak when I hugged you." _Although I damn near did_, he added in the privacy of his own mind.

"That's different. I knew what you were gonna do."

Knuckles took a deep breath.

"Kid, _talk_ to me. Tell me what made you flip."

Tails was already shaking his head. "I dunno."

"Yes you do. When I said how I'd landed almost on your back, you—"

"_Stop_ it, Knuckles!" Tails shot to his feet, stumbled and fell almost on top of the echidna, who caught hold of him, ignoring the almost frenzied struggle.

"Okay. Okay." Knuckles shifted his grip – at this rate the kid was going to whack him in the groin again – and continued talking calmly, or at least, as calmly as he could when he was trying to hang onto Tails and block the fox's determined kicks and punches at the same time. "Kid, will you_ relax_?" Hanging on as firmly as he could without actually hurting Tails, Knuckles settled back and waited for the kid to run out of energy.

It didn't take long. Exhausted by lack of food and overwork, plus the unusual exertions he'd made that day, after a few minutes Tails went completely rigid in Knuckles' hold and then collapsed against him.

"That's it, easy." Knuckles shifted his weight – Tails had, more by luck than judgment, managed to kick him three times in the same shin – and his grasp, made it less restraining and more reassuring. Tails twisted around and burrowed into the echidna's chest, trying to escape from a nightmare that only he could see. Knuckles let him, swallowing the pain as Tails inadvertently shoved against one of the deeper bites. Something had happened, something seriously twisted, and if this made the kid feel better then fine. Knuckles had never seen him like this before though, not even after Sonic's supposed death.

Still, they had all the time in the world to get to the bottom of it.

Gradually, Tails' breathing became slower and more regular and he relaxed into Knuckles' hold, eyes open but slightly glazed. Knuckles glanced down at him and a slight smirk appeared on his face.

_Well, I carried the kid fifteen miles through a mountain range not six months ago. What's a few blocks on top of that?_

A blur announced Sonic's arrival, Bait close behind. Blood was trickling from a cut on one cheek, but otherwise he seemed fine.

"You got him out!" The hedgehog skidded to a stop and stared, suddenly pale. "Damn. What did they do to him down there?"

"What _didn't_ they do?" Knuckles muttered. Next to Sonic, Bait hung back, feeling nervous and not wanting to be blamed for Tails' condition.

"They wanted me to tell 'em stuff," Tails mumbled. None of them were sure whether he was joining in the conversation or just muttering to himself.

Sonic stared at him, astounded. "Tails, you didn't...tell me you didn't..."

"I didn't give in to them, Knux." Nobody listening could have mistaken the pride in Tails' voice...or the fact that he addressed his answer to Knuckles rather than Sonic.

"How could you do it?" Sonic said softly. There was no disbelief or derision in his voice, only stunned wonder. "How could you stand up against all that they did to you? How could you refuse to give in to their demands like that? How _could_ you keep fighting them?"

Tails turned his head to look at him with eyes that were big from tiredness, blinked once at him owlishly.

"How could I not?" he said simply. A low, appreciative chuckle, more felt than heard, rumbled through Knuckles' chest and Tails smiled sleepily and closed his eyes. At least Knuckles was pleased with him.

When the fox came to again, he was lying on a bed, deliciously warm and comfortable. Tails inhaled, long and deep, trying to identify the smells around him, then forced open bleary eyes.

"Wha..."

"Hey there, little bro." The voice was familiar, and Tails turned his head to see Sonic standing there, grinning. And it _was_ Sonic. Not the beaten cynic he'd left behind, not the bitter cripple who'd been too consumed by self-hatred to say a good word about anyone, himself included; this was Sonic as he'd been before the accident.

"Sonic?" Tails stared at him, too tired to really see him. "Am I dead?"

"No," Knuckles said tersely from the door, "but it was damned close!"

"But...but Sonic's...he's got feet again."

"Knux did it," Sonic said, shrugging. "He used the Master Emerald to heal me." He shivered. "And boy oh boy, I hope I never have to go through _that_ again! You ever been squeezed through a wringer that was two sizes too small?"

Tails shook his head, dazed.

"Me neither," Sonic admitted. "But that's what it'd feel like. Still, well worth the tradeoff. How're you feeling?"

"Hurts. Lots."

"I know," Knuckles said. "Think you can sit up? I want to work on some of those injuries now you're awake."

Sonic glanced at him, irritated. "Can't you wait half an hour? The kid's barely opened his eyes!"

"Tell that to the infections," Knuckles retorted, dumping the medical supplies he was carrying on a side table. "C'mon, kid. Sooner we get this done, the sooner it'll be finished. Sonic, do me a favour and go see what's taking Charmy so long with the chilli dogs."

Tails pricked up his ears hopefully. "Chilli dogs?"

"I'll bring you a plateful once they're done. Knux, are you sure you can—"

"For the love of the Emeralds, Sonic, Tails isn't going to die in the next ten minutes and you know nothing about this kind of thing!" Knuckles physically turned Sonic around and pushed him towards the door. "Now go on, go see what's taking the food so long. And go check on Bait; I think the kid misses you."

Sonic glanced from Knuckles to Tails and back to Knuckles again, then sped away.

"You really did fix him, huh Knux?" Tails said.

"Yeah, and if you ever sit up, I'm going to do the same for you."

Tails obliged, somewhat stiffly.

"Why can't we just go back to Angel Island and you use the Master Emerald again?"

"Because it took a hell of a lot of power to heal the kind of injuries Sonic had and it'll take a long time for the Master Emerald to replenish." Thinking about Sonic and the Master Emerald reminded Knuckles of that day and of something he'd seen. "Was it you made those walking crutches for Sonic?"

Tails looked away, a little sullenly. "Yeah. Like he cared. He said I was jus' pitying him. What's that stuff?" he added as Knuckles tipped a jug towards him.

"Antiseptic. Espio got the ingredients for me and I mixed it while you were asleep. It's not quite ready; it needs one more ingredient. Hold out your arm."

Tails eyed him suspiciously. "I think I wanna know what that one ingredient is before I do that, Knux."

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Powdered iyodi seeds, added as soon as the mixture congeals. While we're waiting for that, I want to at least wash the injuries on that arm. You can't do it yourself with only one hand."

Satisfied (if still somewhat apprehensive) Tails held out his arm obediently and Knuckles soaked a cloth in the basin of warm salt water and started sponging one of the cuts there. The fox winced away, although Knuckles was being as gentle as he could.

"What happened in there?" The echidna's voice was quiet, almost as gentle as his hands, but Tails didn't miss the steel in those soft tones. "Was it one of the overseers did this to you?"

"Uh uh. Nobody did it to me, Knux."

"Try again." Knuckles turned Tails' arm over and started sponging the inside, eyes narrowed as the crusted blood came away to reveal the shape of a horrific bite underneath.

"I fell."

Knuckles sat back on his haunches and fixed Tails with a hard stare. "Three strikes and you're out, kid."

Tails hunched over. "Okay, fine. I had a little disagreement with a few guys, alright?"

"That I can just about believe, at a push. Which guys?"

The fox squirmed. "No one important, Knux. Just some jerks down there is all."

"Did you tell anyone about this?"

Tails shook his head, yelping as Knuckles accidentally jarred sore ribs. "No, I – ouch – no, I didn't. I was gonna try, in the beginning, I was gonna try but—OWP!" Tails broke off as Knuckles added some powder to the liquid in the jug and poured the mixture over the worst of the bites. "Watch it with that stuff, Knucklehead! That _hurts_!"

"It'll hurt a lot more if it gets infected and your arm rots off," Knuckles said sharply. "And—Tails, come out from there, I'm not gonna talk to you through a bed!"

Tails emerged, glowering at Knuckles. "You said it wasn't gonna hurt!"

"I said no such thing. This stuff stings a little, sure, but gangrene stings more." Knuckles waited until Tails had clambered back onto the bed again before saying, "And it's going on whether you like it or not. After everything you've been through, I'd have said this was nothing in comparison. Look, I'll count to three and then I'll tip the jug, okay?"

Tails hesitated. "Well...okay, but _I_ get to do the counting."

"Fine, but if you take longer than a minute, I'll tip it anyway."

"No, I won't, promise." Tails closed his eyes. "One."

Knuckles tipped the jug and Tails snapped his eyes open again with a yelp that verged on a shriek.

"AAH! Ow ow ow! Ow. Oh, oh man, that hurt! What happened to two and three, Knucklehead?"

"You might've backed off on three. This stuff takes a while to prepare, and I didn't want to risk losing it. And if you try licking it, Tails," Knuckles added severely, seeing the fox bending over the wound, "I'll tie your tongue around your snout."

"You could've warned me!"

"How can I warn you and take you by surprise at the same time?"

Tails scowled at him. "That was a dirty trick, Knucklehead."

"Yeah, but it worked." Knuckles raised an eye ridge as Tails swatted him hard on the arm. "Now that's more like it. I know you're feeling better when you start hitting me."

"How'd you know I was 'bout to wake up, anyway?" Tails said suddenly. "Why'd you come in then? Or did you just hang out and wait?"

"Funnily enough, Tails, much as I like you, the thought of standing staring down at your sleeping form isn't my idea of a good time. Sonic's been watching over you twenty four seven though." Knuckles shook his head. "If you really want to know why I picked that moment to come in, it's because you were talking in your sleep."

"Huh?" Tails twisted to face the echidna, wincing as the motion sparked pain in his raw back. "What was I saying?"

Knuckles shook his head again. "I didn't catch all of it. Something about caves."

"Oh...right." Tails lay back down again, then memory kicked down the door and he leapt up, seizing one of Knuckles' shoulders. "Knuckles! Knuckles, the caves! We can't let them get to the caves!"

"Yeah, that was pretty much it, though you didn't grab me like that the first time."

"Knux, c'mon!" The differences in size and health made it near impossible for Tails to actually shake the echidna, but he still made a valiant effort. "We gotta go!"

"_We_," Knuckles released Tails' grip and pushed him back onto the bed, not ungently, "are not going anywhere, kid, not until you're fully recovered."

"Knux, the caves, they're gonna get to the caves and then they're gonna take what's there and then it's gonna be real bad and—"

"Yeah, alright, alright. Just _relax_."

Tails shook his head frantically. "I can't, Knux, honest I can't. If they find the caves...I read about 'em in the old echidna books, it'll be a massacre!"

_That_ got Knuckles' attention. "What do you mean? What old echidna books?"

"I found 'em back there, Knux. They threw me into prison but I tunnelled out and found this room with loads of books in and the overseers wanted me to translate 'em but I refused." A look of understandable pride came into the fox's gaze. "I didn't give in to 'em, Knux, even when they broke my wrist. See?" He held up the now well-splinted and tightly bandaged hand for inspection like a medal.

"Yeah, I see it," Knuckles muttered. "I wish to the Emeralds I didn't."

Tails withdrew his hand, the proud look in his eyes being replaced by one of hurt instead. "Aren't you proud of me, Knux?"

The echidna glanced at him, saw the genuine pain in the fox's gaze and forced himself to smile. "Yeah, of course I am." He considered and, because he was compulsively honest, added, "At least, I will be once the shock's worn off."

Tails looked pleased. "I really impressed you, huh Knux?"

"Oh, you did that alright," Knuckles told him.

Contented, Tails reached across to tug a blanket over him – Knuckles had, at the fox's request, brought in a grand total of seven before Tails had stopped claiming to be cold – and snuggled down into his makeshift nest.

"Knux, can I tell you something?"

"Yeah..." Knuckles said, a little warily. The last time Tails had said something like that to him, he'd been suckered into trying to give the fox a lesson on the birds and the bees.

Tails shivered. "I couldn't've held out much longer, Knux. I knew I had to but...I knew I couldn't. They were gonna send me to the...well, some of the stuff they made the biggest and strongest guys down there do, they were gonna make me do it too. They also promised me they'd let me go if I told them what they wanted to know. An'...an' I almost did."

"Yeah, but you didn't. You turned down your own freedom to try and stop them. That took a lot of guts, Tails." Knuckles shook his head, the slight smile no longer as forced as before. "You're one amazing kid, you know that?"

"Knux?" Tails looked up at the echidna. "We're gonna get them outta there, right? All those other slaves, we're gonna get them outta there an' stop those guys from finding the caves, right? Right?"

Knuckles stared back at Tails, his expression now cold and unmoving.

"Damn straight we are."

For a moment Tails continued to look at him, eyes big and suspiciously bright, then abruptly he sat up, shedding blankets all over the mattress and wrapped the startled echidna in a tight hug.

"Hey." Awkwardly, Knuckles patted Tails' shoulder (he couldn't for the life of him remember when his own arms had gone around the fox, seemingly of their own accord). "Hey, c'mon, take it easy." Tails didn't answer, just increased the hold until Knuckles was struggling to breathe. "Alright, kid, alright, you wanna stay there, you stay there. And quit trying to strangle me; I'm not going anywhere."

Tails buried his face in Knuckles' neck, shaking all over. Knuckles felt hot tears soaking his hide and hugged the fox as best he could, ever mindful of Tails' injuries, waiting patiently.

_Let the kid have his cry out. It'll probably do him some good; at the very least, he'll feel better for it._

It took a full twenty minutes before Tails was cried out, and even then he refused to loosen his choke hold.

"Knux? Knux, I'm sorry."

The echidna shook his head. "Don't be. I think that's been building up for a very long time."

"On'y little kids cry, Knux."

"That's crap, Tails, and even if it wasn't, you _are_ a kid."

"I am not!"

Knuckles shook his head. "You're eight years old. People tend to forget that, because you don't act like a kid. Most people ten times your age haven't had to deal with half the crap you've been through." He paused. "Look, if you want me to leave you alone to cry some more in private—"

"I'm _not _crying, Knuckles!"

Knuckles eyed him sceptically. "Right. So what's this damp patch on my neck and shoulder? If you weren't crying, you got a serious drooling problem, kid."

"It's on'y crying when you bawl an' get a runny nose and stuff, Knux. Otherwise it's jus'...jus' sniffling."

The echidna rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine. You want me to leave you alone to _sniffle_ some more in private?"

Tails shook his head. "Uh uh. I'm done."

"Good. Then go back to sleep; you need rest."

"I'm okay," Tails said around a yawn.

"The hell you are." Knuckles disentangled the fox's grip, not roughly but insistently, and pushed Tails back onto the bed. "Get some _sleep_."

Tails winced as the mattress rubbed against the lacerations on his back, then rolled onto his side to try and spare his broken tail. Arguing with Knuckles – especially when the echidna used that tone of voice – was like arguing with a mountain. And he was kinda tired...

"Knux? Thanks for getting me out." Already half asleep, Tails looked up at the echidna groggily.

"You didn't expect me to leave you there, did you?"

"I didn't know you knew what had happened." Tails pulled some of the blankets over himself and Knuckles retrieved the two that had landed on the floor and handed them to the fox.

"Thanks," Tails mumbled again, eyes closed.

"You're welcome. Now quit stalling and go to sleep. I'll be back soon."

Tails snapped his eyes open again. "You're leaving?"

"Yeah. Only to the next room. Why?"

"Oh...I, uh, I was kinda worried 'bout you. Y'know, it's...it's a strange place an' you don't...you've never really been in a city before. An'...well, if you get scared, you c'n always stay in here with me."

Great, Knuckles thought grimly. How the hell was he supposed to answer this one without either hurting Tails or losing face? Ah, of course...

"Thanks, kid, but I'll be back in here anyway; there aren't enough spare rooms to go around and so you and me have to share."

Satisfied, Tails half closed his eyes again.

"Knux?" he said sleepily. The echidna paused in the door.

"Yeah?"

"You're...you know I...I think you're okay. You know?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes, half exasperated, half absurdly pleased. "Yeah, kid, I know. And I think you're okay too." _Or you will be once you're patched up,_ he added grimly in the privacy of his own mind.

"Are we gonna go back to Angel Island?"

"When you're well enough to travel, and that means well rested. You might as well give in and close your eyes, kid; I'm not coming back in until you're asleep." Without waiting for an answer, he walked out and into the other spare room where Sonic and Bait – who was blinking with tiredness but kept insisting he was alright, that he could go a lot longer without sleep – were seated around a gaming board.

"Okay..." Sonic was saying just as Knuckles opened the door. "I accuse Professor Pella in the Green Hill Zone with the subverted E90-series robot."

Knuckles stalked into the room, hand snapping in and out of fists at his side. Without looking up from the game, Sonic lifted a plate up to head height and the echidna smashed it to pieces without breaking stride, then followed this up with another plate, two bowls and five mugs.

"Feel better?" Sonic said eventually, when it became obvious the echidna wasn't going to say anything else. "'Cause I'm outta crockery."

"Give me five minutes alone with the people in charge of this place! That's all I ask!"

"How's Tails?"

"Out like a light. They broke his wrist, his tail and the Emeralds alone know how many ribs. That's to say nothing of the other injuries."

"What other injuries?"

"It looks like he's been in a fight or three. Bite marks all over him, some infected, and thanks to those overseers his back looks like raw meat. They also beat hell out of the backs of his legs, probably to stop him running."

"They dint," Bait volunteered.

The look Knuckles turned on him was so furious that the jackal quailed. "Who the hell's been treating the kid here, you or me?"

Bait shook his head vigorously. "Mister, that ain't what I meant, honest! I meant they dint beat the backs of his legs to stop him moving 'cause what's the use of that? Nobody wants a crippled slave, right?" He considered. "Anyway, if they _was_ trying to cripple him, they dint do a very good job."

"And you'd know all about that, would you?" Knuckles said, his tone now dangerously quiet.

"Not me, mister, but Raker used to do it to people who owed him stuff or who pissed him off an' then tried to run away from him. You gotta slice the hamstrings." Bait considered. "Or slice off a foot, I guess, but they'd die a shock an' blood loss."

"Fine!" Knuckles rapped out, causing Sonic to look up.

"Knuckles..."

"No, Sonic, let him talk. I want to hear this." The echidna stared hard at Bait. "So why, in your expert opinion, did they beat Tails across the legs as well?"

The jackal squirmed, glancing at Sonic.

"Don't look at him; look at me," Knuckles ordered. "What's your verdict, kid?"

Bait cringed. "I ain't _seen_ your buddy's inj'ries, mister."

"I didn't ask you if you'd seen them. You were pretty damn free with your information when it came to crippling someone, so why'd they do what they did to him?"

"Well..." Bait edged away, eyeing Knuckles warily. "Mebbe...mebbe they jus' ran out of room on his back. Y'know, they wanted to keep the punishment but not damage anythin' vital 'cause that'd mess things up too..." His voice tailed off.

"He's right." Espio shaded into view. "Those overseers have to walk a fine line; keep the slaves beaten and cowed enough to prevent any thoughts of rebellion and yet keep them healthy and on the ball enough for them to do their job. A crippled slave can't work any more than a slave can who's been pushed over the edge." He shrugged. "Overseers have to keep secrets, keep slaves in line and keep out the way of any possible revenge. Juggling and multi-tasking doesn't begin to describe it."

Sonic stared at Espio with an expression comprised of both incredulity and loathing.

"You _admire_ them," he said hoarsely.

"Admire?" One corner of the chameleon's mouth quirked in a strange, twisted smile. "No, I wouldn't say I _admire_ them, Sonic, I really wouldn't. I only said it to illustrate a point; an efficient overseer would whip for pleasure or for punishment, but bottom line, you want slaves to work. Granted most of them don't want to – witness the main reason for whips and chains in the first place – but you should at least give them half a chance and leave them mostly alive. Even the most sadistic overseer would agree with that."

Sonic's eyes narrowed. "You seem to know a hell of a lot about this, Espio."

A quiet smile. "Detective, remember? Like I said, the kid's right, Knux. You really ought to place more trust in your friends."

_He's not my friend_, Knuckles started to retort, then bit down on the words. He couldn't say them, not when Bait was within earshot. It didn't seem to matter anyway; Espio vanished again and something in the air told the others that the chameleon had left.

"'S jus' like he said, mister," mumbled Bait, who was now heartily wishing that he'd never spoken at all. "They jus' run outta room on his back."

Sonic turned a hard look on Knuckles, one which didn't faze the echidna in the slightest.

"Happy, Knuckles? Because I didn't bring him all this way for you to terrorise him."

"Yeah," the echidna muttered, not really hearing, then glanced at Bait again. "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if he was right. If I _ever_ get my hands on them..." He let the sentence trail off, fury choking his words.

"Great," Sonic said. "In the meantime, what're we gonna do about sleeping arrangements? Because that other kid you saved – which was a pretty cool and somewhat un-Knuxlike thing to do – has been moved into my room and Tails is currently in yours."

"I don't see the problem," Knuckles said coolly. "I'll go in with Tails and I'm sure Bait won't mind sharing his room with you."

Bait's face lit up. "Nah, 'course not, mister! I dunt snore neither."

Sonic grinned. "I know you don't. You've been camping out with us for...how long?" He shook his head wryly; the jackal looked so thrilled at the prospect of sleeping in the same room as Sonic that the hedgehog couldn't find it in himself to refuse.

"Good. Glad that's sorted," Knuckles said curtly, turned and walked back into the bedroom.

Tails was sleeping soundly, albeit with the occasional whimper in his sleep. He was also sprawled out on his front across most of the bed; there was no room for Knuckles to get in beside him even if the echidna had been so inclined.

Seeing a likely spot by the window, Knuckles crossed over to lie down on the carpet. It was actually pretty comfortable and he was asleep in minutes.

After half an hour or so had passed, Tails jerked awake, shaking all over. Staring around, more reflexively than anything, he caught sight of Knuckles' sleeping form on the floor, one arm up by his face, the other cushioning his head. Moving jerkily, now more asleep than awake, Tails stumbled to his feet and crossed over to him, dragging five of his seven blankets behind and dropping them next to Knuckles before lying down and crawling under the blankets. Knuckles hadn't moved, and Tails attempted to wriggle in under the echidna's arm. He succeeded, and the little fact that the action also resulted in his headbutting the echidna hard in the chest to get under his arm and accidentally kicking him in the leg in no way marred the sweetness of that success.

Knuckles, who had slept through all of this until the headbutt, grunted irritably, then propped himself up on one elbow enough to cocoon Tails securely in blankets before lying down again, one arm still around the fox, who was already asleep. Within minutes, Knuckles had joined him and neither of them so much as stirred when the door opened softly about an hour later.

Sonic stared at the pair for long minutes, his expression strange and unreadable, then turned and left without a word.

**Okay, long as it might be (and boy, these chapters seem to get longer and longer :S) I wanted to get this chapter finished tonight 'cause I'm driving down to my mother's for Christmas and wanna be out the flat by 6.30am, mainly to dodge my cousin who is coming up to spring clean and decorate...I don't want her to arrive until I'm gone and it's too late for her to turn back (kicks mess under sofa with innocent whistle) Anyways,so Tails is finally reunited with Sonic and Knux :P Hope you enjoyed this chapter and once again, if you read, please review!**


	15. Ghosts of the Past

**CHT: What, the cliffhangers? (grins) Thanks ;)**

**Kj: Ah...what indeed? Truth to tell I've no real idea either; I'm kinda making this up as I go :P**

**Matri90: (smiles) Thanks; glad you liked it :)**

**Ri2: Heh...I did think about changing Bait's name but nothing right now seems to fit...I think he's stuck being Bait for the duration ;) As for how Tails and Bait will get along (weg) We'll see...**

**XTailsX: You want a sequel already? This story's not even over yet (about another third to go, I think ;)) But yes, I started the sequel to this one some weeks ago and it's pretty much how you described. With twists and turns 'cause I'm evil like that :P**

**FriedBrickWall: (blushes) Wow...thanks :D And your review made my day, so I guess we're even :P**

**Asher Tye: Thanks :) Heh...you may well be right about Raker, although possibly not in the way you think (weg)**

**SaffraEchidna: Heh, thanks ;) (shakes head) Jeez, why does everyone think the story ended with the last chapter? No, it didn't; believe me, I'll tell you when it's the final chapter 'cause I usually use that chapter to plug the sequel ;) **

_Guardian's Log no. 11481_

_Tails is back. He's alive, although he's been pretty badly beaten. Broken tail, broken wrist, probably a few broken ribs as well, to say nothing of the lacerations. There's barely an inch of healthy skin left on that kid's back. But he's alive. That's the good news._

_The bad news is that a) he freaked out completely and tried to kill me in those tunnels but apparently has no recollection of this (and crazy as that sounds, I actually believe him) b) Raker's still down there and is probably going to cause no end of trouble, c) Tails woke me up last night doing what I refer to as the hug-and-snuggle routine. He might feel more comfortable like this, but he's the only one. And d) I can foresee problems with Sonic in the near future. He didn't say anything, but I know him well enough to know it must've hurt him when the kid rejected him so blatantly._

_I've no idea what's going to happen next, but with the level of relief I'm feeling at getting Tails out of that place – and something says that I was only barely in time – I'm not that interested in forward planning either, at least not yet._

_--Knuckles the Echidna_

_My Memoirs by Me_

_Oookay. So Tails made it damn clear which of us he prefers out of me or Knux. Well, fine. Kid's got a right to choose, same's the rest of us. I'm happy for him._

_Oh, who am I kidding? I don't want Tails to stay with Knuckles and that's got nothing to do with the echidna; it's for my own selfish reasons. I know I was a jerk to him before, but jeez, don't I at least get a second chance?_

_That's not the real problem though. The real problem is the rest of those people down in the tunnels. Knuckles managed to free one iguana kid (and fair play to him, that's one more than I did) who is currently lying on his back on a mattress and staring at the ceiling since nobody's given him an order for the past fifteen minutes. Damn, I never thought of that aspect before but it's true; this kid has a lot of difficulty thinking for himself in case it lands him in trouble. Don't get me wrong; he's not the shy or shrinking type, but I guess after a lifetime of being whipped for breathing too loud he's not about to take chances._

_And Bait. What happened down in the tunnels...I could have killed Raker. I know people say that kind of thing a lot, but this is the first time in my life that I've actually meant it. Good riddance to him. Maybe they'll make him a slave too. I hope so. Usually I despise slavery in any way, shape or form, but in Raker's case I'll happily make an exception._

_--Sonic the Hedgehog_

_Bait's Jurnal_

_Maybe Raker was rite. After evrything thats happned, maybe I am a jinx. Still cant help wundring if Sonicll let me stay._

_--Bait the Jakkel_

Tails screamed.

It wasn't the sudden reflexive scream of someone awakening from a nightmare, or the shriek of an arachnophobe who's just discovered a tarantula in their bedroom...in fact, a listener would be hard pressed to come up with a good analogy; it was unlike most other screams.

It did have one thing in common with those others, however, in that it was very, very loud, loud enough to send Knuckles from a state of peaceful slumber to advanced pissed-offness in just under three seconds.

"What the _hell_—" he began, his anger more reflexive than genuine.

"No. _No_!" Tails started to get up, tripped and crashed down heavily onto his side before the echidna could catch him.

"Tails?" Concern replacing anger, Knuckles righted the fox, then caught hold of his arms and held on tightly. Tails didn't react – Knuckles doubted he even noticed – except to continue babbling loudly.

"Knuckles! Knuckles, _no_! Not...don't let him...no, not..."

"_Tails_!" Knuckles didn't exactly shout the word, but he spoke forcefully enough that he heard Sonic turn over in the next room. "Tails, stop this now! You'll wake up the whole damn Zone!"

Something in the echidna's tone got through; Tails stopped as though Knuckles really had slapped him and stared wide-eyed, then started forward.

"Oh no you don't." Knuckles held Tails off, not roughly but firmly. "I want some answers. First you scream at me, then you pummel me and now you try to hug me. Kid, just what the hell is going on in your mind?"

Tails tried to push forward into the shelter of Knuckles' arms again, but the echidna still held him off, although he didn't try to stop Tails when the fox seized his wrist instead.

"I..." Tails swallowed hard. "I thought you were dead."

"_What_?" Knuckles stared in disbelief. "What put that crazy idea into your head?"

Tails hunched over, shivering, still hanging onto the echidna's wrist as tightly as he could.

"I...Knux, I...I couldn't feel your pulse."

"My what?" Knuckles wondered if the kid was still half asleep.

"Here!" Tails fumbled around, feeling frantically until he located the steady beat of life. Once he had it, he slumped in pure relief. "I thought they'd feed you to them."

Knuckles stared, perplexed. "Tails...what the _hell_ are you yammering on about?"

"I thought you were dead, Knux, like Max."

"What?" Knuckles said again, now wondering if _he_ was the one asleep. "What are you talking about? Who's Max?"

Tails shifted his grip, pushing the heel of his palm into the echidna's wrist as if to convince himself that it was real, that Knuckles was still alive. This time when he tried to snuggle in next to Knuckles, the echidna let him.

"Max was...he was one of the other guys down in that place. He was nice to me, Knux. He used to let me sleep next to him so's I could keep warm. He'd been there his whole life. I used to use his arm as a blanket and I could feel his pulse and all the time I felt it I felt kinda safe, you know? Even though I wasn't, I felt it. Then...one morning I woke up and...and he was all stiff and cold and...and...Knux, they wouldn't even let me say goodbye. They had these animals and they just threw his body to them. I didn't have to watch but I couldn't help it." Tails hunched over, still clinging onto Knuckles' arm. "I'm sorry, Knux; I didn't mean to wake you. 'S just...you don't understand what it's like."

"To go to sleep next to someone who's warm and alive and wake up to find them cold and dead next to you?" Knuckles said very quietly. "Oh no, kid, that I _do_ understand, maybe better than you know. Go on back to sleep. It was only a dream."

"C'n I sleep right here?" Tails twisted under Knuckles' arm until it was draped across his shoulders like a blanket.

"If that's what it takes to make you conk out, go ahead," the echidna told him bluntly.

Satisfied, Tails squirmed around until his face was stuffed firmly into Knuckles' armpit (_and if that doesn't put him out for the count, nothing will_, Knuckles thought wryly) and gradually fell asleep.

Knuckles sighed noiselessly. When he'd taken on the sacred duty of guarding the Master Emerald, there had been nothing in the job description about looking after traumatised foxes. Because if there _had_, chances were good he'd have told his mother to stick it where the sun never shone. He'd probably have been knocked into another pricklebush for the privilege – his mother's aim really had been uncanny, especially when dealing with a recalcitrant puggle – but it would almost have been worth it.

Sliding to his feet, he lifted Tails and carried him back over to the bed, placed him down and covered him over with all seven blankets before turning and walking silently from the room. Maybe he could crash on the couch or go in with Mighty.

A shuriken flashed past his skull and into the wall, and Knuckles froze.

"Espio, you wanna watch where you're throwing those things? I got a kid behind there!"

Espio shaded into view. Although his ninja training held firm, it was still obvious that the chameleon was angry as hell.

"You too? Funny, that," he said, voice low. "So do I, and apparently I have _you_ to thank for it!"

"You're welcome." Knuckles started to push past but Espio gripped his arm tightly, immobilising him.

"You tell me one thing, echidna. You know all of us pretty well. You know Vector and Mighty are the soft touches here, just like you know that I don't care what happens so long as I get paid for it. So why the hell did you tell that kid to come here and ask for _me_?"

"You really want me to answer that question here?" Knuckles answered, lowering his voice to a bare whisper. "Now, when someone else might overhear? I don't know if Tails is fully asleep yet." He started to go past, but Espio tightened his hold.

"That's blackmail."

"I think you'll find it's called an _observation_."

Espio stared at him through slitted eyes. "You know _nothing_, echidna."

"Seems I know enough to shake your composure," Knuckles whispered back. "You want rid of that slave in there—" he noted Espio's slight wince with predatory interest— "you go tell him yourself. But hey, I doubt he's been any trouble to you."

There was a long, tense silence.

"Take your hand off my arm," Espio said finally. Knuckles, understanding this as being as close to surrender as the chameleon was likely to get, complied and headed for the TV room. There were giant beanbags aplenty in that room; one of those would do him nicely...

* * *

The sound of a door slamming caused Tails to wake up with a start,automatically reaching for a pickaxe that was no longer there, then memory surfaced and he sagged in relief. He was safe. There were no tunnels here, no overseers and – most importantly – no whips.

There was also no Knuckles, but that didn't freak the fox out. He knew the echidna, knew his moods. He also knew that Knuckles would have been extremely uncomfortable acting as Tails' comfort blanket/plush toy, but Tails had needed him, had needed to feel the echidna was _there_.

Getting stiffly to his feet, he limped over to the window and looked out at the Zone. What had Knuckles said it was called? Scrap Brain, that was it. Tails frowned. It didn't seem to tally with Sonic's stories about this place, stories centred around a dank, smog-filled city with half the electrics and gas jets going haywire.

The door opened and the fox turned to see Knuckles standing there.

"You're awake? Good. I want to work on some more of those injuries."

Tails yawned and stretched, wincing as the motion ripped at injured tendons. "Whass for breakfast?"

"Lunch, I think you mean, and whatever you fancy. You can eat while I'm sorting you out. C'mon."

Tails scrambled to his feet obediently, following the echidna out and into the kitchen. Part of him wanted to grab Knuckles' hand and never let go, but that part was quickly squashed by the rest of him; big kids didn't hold hands and besides, he wasn't about to push his luck with Knuckles. That was one thing he did miss about Sonic; the hedgehog was always ready with a hug or fur ruffle.

"Hey Knux!" Charmy zoomed overhead and dropped a yellow-leafed branch onto the echidna's head. "I got it! I got what you wanted!"

Knuckles examined the plant, then broke off several leaves and started chewing.

"Thanks," he said, somewhat indistinctly. Next to him, Tails grabbed a plate and started piling sausages, burgers, bread and mushrooms onto it.

"You can have more than one helping, kid," Knuckles informed him, half amused.

"An' I'm gonna," Tails answered around a mouthful of sausage. Swallowing, he snatched a piece of bread, scooped a burger, another sausage and a handful of mushrooms onto it, then folded it over and crammed it into his mouth. Knuckles rolled his eyes.

"It's not gonna run away from you. Slow _down_ or you're just gonna bring it all back up again."

Tails attempted to swallow, failed, choked, coughed up, chewed and this time managed to swallow half his mouthful, freeing up his tongue enough to say, "Yeah, but I'm hungry, Knux!"

"You're always hungry. I said slow _down_. You're in no fit state to run for the bathroom if you do overload your stomach, and Charmy doesn't want to clean up your puke."

"Whaddaya _mean_, _Charmy_ doesn't wanna clean up his puke?" Charmy demanded loudly. Knuckles glanced at him, then back at Tails.

"Okay, scratch that. Seems Charmy doesn't mind after all." Knuckles reached into his mouth and pulled out the soggy wad of leaves, then motioned to Tails. "C'mere."

Tails hesitated. "Why?"

"I wanted to clean up your ear but you were so exhausted yesterday that I didn't get the time. This'll help stop any infection."

Tails stared at the yellow mess, revolted. "You been chewing and slurping on that for the past ten minutes and now you wanna put it on my _ear_?"

"I put it on all my injuries."

"That's okay. You already have that gunk in your body."

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "I'm disease-free, if that's what's bothering you. C'mon, if I don't put it on soon it'll dry out and I'll have to chew it again to get it soft, and this stuff tastes vile."

Tails eyed the glop as though it was pure acid, edging away slightly.

"Knux...I think it's okay, it's not gonna get infected, honest, you don't have to—"

The echidna snorted. "Save your breath, kid; it's going on and that's final. It won't hurt like the other stuff I put on."

Tails' gaze became warier; like a lot of kids, he was more afraid of the cure than the disease. "You promise?"

"Yeah, I promise. C'mon."

Reluctantly, Tails offered up the injured ear for treatment, jerking slightly as the salve made contact.

"Oh, stop wincing," Knuckles said impatiently. "You're worse than Bait! Now hold still." He caught hold of the fox's jaw firmly and kept Tails' head motionless while he finished applying the dressing, a task made harder by the fact that Tails' ear tended to flick reflexively (and vigorously) whenever anything touched it.

"Are you done?" Tails demanded. Knuckles sat back, resigned.

"Yeah. Done enough. I don't think you'll lose the ear, though it might be a little ragged. And don't touch it!" Knuckles slapped Tails' curious hand. "If you knock it, I'll only have to reapply it, and _you_ can chew the leaves for it."

The kitchen door slammed open and Sonic strode in, grabbed a burger from the plate and ate it in two bites, dumped the plate into the sink almost hard enough to shatter it and stalked out again.

"What...?" Tails began.

"I dunno," Knuckles admitted. Sonic had been in a foul mood all morning, which was unusual enough in itself. So far he'd snapped at Bait, thrown a cushion at him and smashed three of Vector's CDs. "You go and watch TV or something. I'll deal with Sonic."

Tails opened his mouth to protest, but somewhere along the line this turned into a yawn and he trudged off obediently. A little TV never hurt anyone and besides, those huge beanbags were calling to him. Scrambling up a little clumsily, Tails sank into one, lying on his stomach with a contented sigh and started flicking through the channels. He'd talk to Sonic, sure, but...when he was a little healthier.

"Is Sonic mad at me, mister?" Bait asked Knuckles once Sonic had raced back into the room, gulped down a glass of juice and raced out of the room again after threatening to spindash Charmy to within an inch of his life if the bee so much as _dared_ sing one more note of that annoying song he'd been burbling ever since breakfast.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Knuckles said shortly. Sonic had cut him dead in the corridor early that morning, not even asking after Tails.

Bait dropped his gaze, toying with his tail. "I did, mister, at breakfast. He tole me to piss off an' go bother summun else."

"He told you _what_?" the echidna said incredulously, then shook his head. "This has gone far enough," Bait heard him mutter and caught hold of his arm.

"Nah, forget I mentioned it, it dunt matter! I kinda understand why he's doin' it. Please mister, don't make waves with him. He's mad enough already."

"I'll make waves with whoever I choose," Knuckles said coolly. "Get your hand off me and tell me where Sonic's going. Whatever's wrong with him, it's not like him to take it out on other people."

Bait snatched his hands away obligingly, but shook his head.

"Uh uh. He dunt wanna be disturbed."

"What he wants and what he's going to _get_ are two separate things," Knuckles informed the jackal. "If you're afraid of him, I'll make sure I don't tell him you told me where he was."

Bait folded his arms. "Nuh _uh_. Sonic tole me if you come stickin' your nose into his business that I wunt to tell you he was goin' to the park where we was yesterday for some private time an'...oh _crud_."

Knuckles hesitated. 'Private time' was usually a euphemism for relieving oneself in a tree or bush, although somehow he didn't think that was what Sonic had meant in this case. For one thing, he'd never get away with it, not in a public place.

"Alright," he said aloud. "The park, huh?"

"Mister, forget it, I shunta tole you that."

"Told me what?" Knuckles said over his shoulder, then slammed the door shut behind him.

Clambering up the side of the tallest building, Knuckles looked down at the Scrap Brain Zone, scanning the area for the park.

There! That was it. And better yet, there was a familiar blue shape in it as well. Knuckles pushed off, glided down and dropped on top of Sonic far less gently than he had Tails back in the mines, knocking them both over in a tangle of arms and legs. Getting to his feet first, Knuckles caught hold of Sonic's arm tightly.

"I want to talk to you," he said curtly.

"Yeah?" Sonic tried unsuccessfully to wrest his arm free. "Well, I don't want to talk to you!"

"I didn't say you had to talk back. Right now all you have to do is _listen_."

"I don't think I particularly want to listen to you either, Knuckles, given what you've done."

"What _I've_ done!" For a moment the echidna was speechless, then he shook himself and went on. "Sonic, even if I've done something to piss you off, that doesn't give you the right to take it out on everyone else. You got a problem with me, tell _me_, not the rest of the world. I got Charmy griping about you, Vector out for your blood and Bait on a guilt trip! At the very least you owe that kid an apology, Sonic; you treated him like...like Raker would."

"You after Bait as well?" Sonic said, voice strangely tight. Knuckles stared at him.

"Look, you've been acting like a spoilt kid throwing a temper tantrum all morning! What's your deal?"

"You know damn well what my _deal_ is! Isn't Tails enough for you?"

The echidna's jaw dropped. "_That's_ what this is about? You think I set out to...what? Tempt him away from you?"

"Didn't you?"

"No I damn well didn't, hedgehog! Tails wound up with me firstly because you fell off the rail that day and the kid needed _someone_ to watch out for him, and I was the only one around! It's not my fault you were such a cocky show-off you had to do what you did, and it's not my fault you were such a jerk to that poor kid back in Robotnik's fortress either!"

There was a hot, angry silence.

"What's this _really_ all about, Sonic?" Knuckles said shrewdly. "Who are you really angry at? Tails because he's now looking to me for comfort or me for allowing him to do it?" He paused and then went on very quietly, "Or are you just angry at yourself because you know it's your own damn fault that Tails doesn't want to hang out with you anymore?"

Sonic didn't answer that, but Knuckles knew from the sudden slackness of the hedgehog's muscles that his words had hit home.

"So it's my fault, is it?" Sonic said, but there was no defiance or venom in his words. "Tell me something; did you know this would happen?"

"I suspected, sure. But I also hoped that the kid would see you fully healed and back to your old self and that would put him on such a high he'd go along with you."

"Yeah? And when did you decide that you were gonna take him back to Angel Island like you said?"

Knuckles shrugged. "I dunno. When did _you_ first decide to take Tails along?"

It was the right thing to say; a wry smile tugged at the corner of Sonic's mouth and he relaxed completely. "I guess that would be when he puked all over my sneakers."

The echidna blinked. "That's a pretty strange reaction to something like that. Kid pukes on you and you promptly adopt him."

"Yeah, I know. I'd only met him a couple times before, and both those times he was too shy to say much."

"Tails? Shy?"

"Oh yeah," Sonic assured him. "He was only about four at the time, all big eyes and boundless energy."

Knuckles was silent for a couple of minutes, just long enough (or so he judged) to conceal his interest, before saying, "So what happened?"

Sonic shrugged. "Poor kid got salmonella and picked me to help him." He frowned slightly. "I dunno...maybe it was just the whole concept that bugged me. You know; there are hundreds of people in the Emerald Hill Zone and Tails figured his best chance of help would be from a near complete stranger." He paused. "You know how we met?" he said suddenly.

"Me and you, or you and Tails?"

"Me and Tails, of course. Or to be more accurate, you know how Tails always used to _think_ we met?"

"No."

"He thought a star sent me." Some of Knuckles' scepticism must have been obvious on his face, because Sonic added, "True. You know that old kids' rhyme; star light, star bright, first star I see tonight—"

"—I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight, yeah, I know," Knuckles interrupted. Sonic quirked an eye ridge at him.

"So echidnas have that little tradition as well. Glad to know you can wish on stars like the rest of us normal, rational folk. Anyway, yeah. That's what Tails wished for on the same star, every single night for two years. He used to get pretty worried if it was cloudy and he couldn't see his star; he'd worry that the star would think he'd forgotten it. Hey, like I said, he was four years old," Sonic added in response to the echidna's look.

"And he wished for a bright blue hedgehog?"

"Yeah, oddly enough, that's what I asked him. He said no, he just wished for someone to play with." Sonic snorted. "Took me over a week before he was all played out; he was exhausting to be around but by the time the Tornado was fixed, I took him with me."

"Why?"

Sonic shrugged. "He made me laugh, and in a good way. I needed that pretty bad."

Knuckles snorted. "_You_ needed help laughing? Yeah, right, Sonic. Pull the other one."

"No, I did. I met him just after I'd beaten Robotnik for the first time. I beat him back, destroyed the Sky Base, drove him out of Green Island and then I sat down in the Green Hill Zone and cried my eyes out."

A raised eye ridge.

"How would _you_ have liked it?" Sonic said defensively. "You're pretty close to Tails, right? How would you feel if he suddenly went bad and you had to fight your best friend, all the while knowing it was your fault it had turned out this way? Maybe that's why Robotnik and I have never killed each other; even now I can't bring myself to finish him off completely and—"

"—he thinks you're more fun alive," Knuckles interrupted. Sonic shook his head.

"No – well, that too, I guess – but I think there's something else to it. After that first fight against him, he could have killed me with the flick of a finger. I was too exhausted to stop him. All he did was fly away."

"You really think Robotnik's a good guy underneath all that?" Knuckles said derisively. "Get real."

Sonic shook his head. "No, I don't think he is anymore. But after Green Island, I really needed someone to help me relax again. Tails did that perfectly, although considering he only spoke to me for the first time after he'd almost headbutted me to death, I was kinda surprised it worked out like it did."

"Headbutted," Knuckles muttered, remembering the events of last night. "Yeah, he does seem to like that."

"You just be thankful he's outgrown the pouncing phase," Sonic informed him. "Man, that was rough. You couldn't even close your eyes or turn your back without a pounce attack, as he used to call them."

Knuckles considered. "These pounce attacks; did he ever try to rip out your throat with them?"

The hedgehog stared. "Hell no! Why?"

"You saw what Tails did to me back in the tunnels."

"Yeah. Trust me, that wasn't one of his pounces. The worst you'd get from them is pepperpot bruising."

"He doesn't remember it."

Sonic blinked. "What?"

"He doesn't remember doing it. His mind's a blank from the moment he rushed into the crowd to look for you to the moment he woke up with me in the park. The worst part is he knows what triggered it, I know he does, but he refuses to even think about it, much less tell me."

Sonic snorted. "And you're put out that he's not sharing his most intimate secrets with you?"

"No, I'm just worried I'm going to get attacked again and not get out the way in time!" Knuckles retorted. "I don't care if he doesn't want to talk to me about it – though he needs to talk to someone – but I'd like to avoid a repeat performance if it's all the same to you!"

There was a long silence.

"I love that kid, Knuckles," Sonic said abruptly. "Always have done. Always will. Seeing him...oh hell, I'm not mad at _you_." A slightly grim smile tugged at the corner of one mouth. "I know you well enough to know you'd never have encouraged such a thing, much less initiated it, Knucklehead. It just...nobody likes being reminded of their own stupidity and past failures and that's what I get every time I see him with you. When I saw the two of you asleep last night..." He shook his head.

"You _what_?"

"Saw you last night."

Knuckles stared at him. "What time was this?"

"Around midnight. I came into your room and the two of you were just lying there, both out for the count. What?" Sonic added, because the echidna's eyes had narrowed very slightly.

"I just wouldn't mind knowing what you wanted creeping into my room at gone midnight, Sonic!"

Sonic rolled his eyes and swatted Knuckles hard on the arm.

"Well, for one thing, not _that_! Wrong gender, Knux. Wrong damn species too, if it comes to that. No, I wanted to check on Tails." He paused. "You think me and him'll ever get back on our old footing?" he asked abruptly.

"You're welcome to try, Sonic, so long as you don't upset the kid. For the record, you're not the only one who—" Knuckles broke off abruptly and coughed. "Well, it's not just you who...looks out for him...who..."

Sonic was grinning now. "C'mon Knux, the L-word, you can say it."

"I don't know _what_ you're talking about, Sonic, and if you even _think_ of saying any of this to Tails—"

"Oh, don't worry, I won't make waves. Poor kid's got enough on his plate right now." Sonic's grin broadened. "Personally, I'd rather suffer than have you as a nurse, but that's just me."

"He's suffered enough already," Knuckles said shortly. The grin disappeared from Sonic's face.

"You're right." He shook his head. "Man, how the hell am I gonna make this one up to him, Knux? If we hadn't had that fight and he hadn't stormed off..."

"If your mother hadn't been female, she would have been your father," Knuckles retorted. It was a standard echidna response to _what if_ questions. "As far as making things up with him goes...well, I dunno. He didn't object to you calling him _lil bro_, though, did he?"

Sonic stared at Knuckles, then brightened visibly. "You're right, Knux, he didn't." He sighed. "Oh man, I'm sorry I was such a jerk—"

"I'm not the one you should be apologising to, Sonic," Knuckles cut across coolly.

"Right. Yeah. Bait. Where is he?"

"Far as I know, back at the CDA. And just for the record, he didn't tell me that you were in the park for a little private time...and next time you leave a message like that, pick another expression, okay? I had this warped image in my mind of you fertilising every flower in the park from here to the entrance."

"You _are_ warped, Knux, end of story," Sonic said lightly. "You heading back to the CDA?"

"Yeah, why?" Suddenly Knuckles realised. "Oh no you don't—!"

"Too late!" Sonic seized the echidna's wrist and sped off, dragging Knuckles behind him and skidding to a stop opposite the back entrance to the CDA headquarters; they'd knocked another door in the wall to allow members to slip in and out without going through the office part.

"There has _got_ to be a more dignified way of doing that," Knuckles complained, glaring at Sonic.

"Probably, Knux, but where's the fun in that?" Sonic said innocently, then sped off in search of Bait. Knuckles rolled his eyes – Sonic's moods always seemed to change with the wind – and pushed open the door leading to the TV room where Tails was asleep in one of the four foot beanbags that were scattered around the room. The wall TV was showing footage of what remained of Oil Ocean Zone and Knuckles turned it off; the last thing he wanted was to be reminded of _that_.

Glancing at Tails, he was just wondering whether it would be more beneficial to wake the kid and finish cleaning him up or let him sleep on when Espio crashed open the door and stalked inside.

"You have five seconds to explain yourself!"

Knuckles got to his feet, automatically stepping between the fox and the chameleon.

"What _now_?" he said testily.

"Not you, Knuckles. Him!" Espio jabbed a finger in Tails' direction and the echidna stared.

"What? What's Tails done to get you this riled?"

The chameleon took a long, deep breath, still glowering at Tails, who had woken up at his somewhat violent entrance.

"You should have told me about the overseer who broke your wrist!"

Tails blinked owlishly, more asleep than awake. "Wha'? Why?" He yawned. "Whass it matter?"

"It matters because..." Espio shook his head. "Did you or did you not mention my name to him?"

Knuckles stared. For Espio to be this blunt and forthright...well, the phrase 'out of character' didn't begin to describe it. Usually if the chameleon wanted answers, he'd ease them out of someone so subtly that most didn't even realise what the question had been, or failing that he'd resort to trickery. For him to do something as crass as actually _asking_...Knuckles shook his head.

"What's your deal, Espio?"

"Shut up," Espio told him in an aside, then stared at Tails again. "Well? Did you?"

Tails yawned again. Despite Espio's alarming behaviour, he didn't feel threatened by the chameleon. In fact, if he hadn't known better, he'd have said it was almost like Espio was _scared_ of something.

"Dunno. Can't 'member."

"Try, damn you!"

"That's enough!" Knuckles took a step forward. "The kid needs rest, Espio! Take a hike!"

"You stay out of this!" the chameleon ordered, not taking his eyes off Tails. "You should have told me he was a damn chameleon!"

"Scarface?" A third yawn and Tails closed his eyes. "Yeah, he's a chameleon. Whass it matter?" he mumbled again.

Espio strode forward, seized Tails by the uninjured wrist and hauled him upright. "Why didn't you _tell_ me?"

"Huh?" Bewildered, Tails could only stare. "You never asked, Espie."

"_Are you making fun of me_?"

"Espio, _leave_ him!" Knuckles gripped the chameleon by the back of the neck and hauled him off Tails. "What the hell's gotten into you?"

Tails, whose mind wasn't nearly as battered as his body, stared at Espio, suddenly no longer sleepy.

"You _know_ him, don't you?"

"No!" Espio snapped, then seemed to realise he'd spoken too quickly and too loudly. "I mean...no."

"Then how'd you know he was a chameleon?"

"Oh, _that's_ easy." Espio smiled, but there was no real warmth or humour in it. "I know he's a chameleon because he arrived here half an hour ago and now happens to be sitting in the outer offices having a nice, cosy chat with the others."

**Okay, another chapter done. And no, this one isn't the last one either ;) If you read, please review!**


	16. Old Enemies

**PyroHedgehog4Ever: Ah yes...suspense indeed :P Hopefully it'll be lessened in this chapter ;)**

**Matri90: Thanks :)**

**SaffraEchidna: Heh; yeah, I kinda see what you mean ;)**

**CHT.BI: I am full of twists ;) And thanks, I'm glad you liked the talk :P**

**XTailsX: You'll find out ;)**

**Kj: Yep, he's there :P As for Sonic and Tails...maybe it'll happen...in fact, I'm pretty sure it will sometime ;)**

**Riven K. Daniel: Thanks for reviewing :D Espio evasive...whatever gave you that idea? ;)**

**Ri2: Ah, the void ;) It'll be mentioned in due time, never fear ;)**

**Awdures: (grins) Thanks...I kinda liked the Mobian Cluedo bit as well :D**

**Nxy: (blushes) Wow, thanks. As far as updates go...well, I've taken a break from my serious writing over Christmas, so fingers crossed they'll be pretty regular :D**

**Matt Lans: Heh, thanks. And don't let Metal Sonic cattle prod you out of reviewing :P**

**Toboe16: (blushes) Thanks...I'll try not to ;)**

**FriedBrickWall: (Tails: POUNCE ATTACK!) In the immortal words of _Knightmare's _Tregard: ooh, _nasty_. Still, you did ask for it :P I'm working on converting Sonic 2 to story form (called _Rising Star_) so there'll be plenty of pounce attacks in that one ;) I'll probably upload the first chapter in a few days if anyone's interested (gotta get through Christmas first ;))**

**Asher Tye: True ;) No, I don't think Tails has registered Bait's presence yet, but it's only a matter of time ;)**

_Guardian's Log no. 11482_

_Fix one thing, break three more. At least, that's what it feels like right now. First I had to deal with Sonic's mood (and that was weird in itself) and now Scarface is in the outer office and Espio's throwing a hissy fit! Pretty weird for that guy; he wouldn't raise his voice at a rock concert._

_I managed to get the worst of Tails' injuries treated. I still have to do something about that broken tail, maybe I can sort that today._

_--Knuckles the Echidna_

_My Memoirs by Me_

_Okay. So maybe I overreacted a little. But like I said to Knux, even if I screwed up with Tails in the fortress, don't I at least get a second chance? Look at how many I've given Tails over the years._

_Well..._

_No, that's not entirely fair. But still, it bites to see the kid so cosy with Knuckles. I wouldn't mind so much if he was a little more demonstrative...as things are I think he's treating Tails a little like a walking, talking Chaos Emerald._

_Alright, so that's not fair either. Stuff it. I'm not in the mood to be fair. And I heard that one of the overseers from that place is in the outer office. I think I just found a good outlet for my frustration._

_--Sonic the Hedgehog_

_Dear Diary_

_Mighty let me have a spare notebook. Boy, writing this sure is hard with my left hand. Why couldn't they have broken my left wrist? Then I could've used my right hand to write! Well...alright, so I know the answer to that; after I whacked him with the rock One-Eye said if that was what I was using my hands for I didn't deserve to have them._

_Knuckles insisted on sorting me out, as he put it; in other words cleaning me up. The whip marks on my back were bad enough, but what he did afterwards – chewing that stuff and then spitting it on my ear – was gross...although he was right when he said it wouldn't hurt. My ear feels all fizzy though, like a soda. I dunno why Knux couldn't put water on it or I've heard pella juice can be good for injuries...oh great, now I'm all thirsty._

_--Tails_

_Bait's Jurnal_

_Im starting to think Raker reely is rite. Not about me being a jinx but about Sonic leeving me now he dusnt need my help. The morning after Tails got back Sonic started ackting reely weerd, like he dusnt want to no me._

_--Bait the Jakkel_

Tails and Knuckles both stared at Espio.

"He's what?" Knuckles said in deadly tones.

"You heard!" Espio shot back. "He's also been asking for _me_, and all I want to know is which one of you told him I was here?"

Tails glanced at Knuckles. "Knux...didn't you say something about Espio and the CDA?"

"Back in the tunnels." The echidna frowned slightly. "Yeah...when I told you about that iguana...but I didn't see Scarface anywhere nearby."

"_Hello_?" Espio all but shrieked at them. "_Chameleon_?" To illustrate the point, he vanished, blending seamlessly into the background, then reappeared again just in time to get a glass of water in the face. Dripping, sputtering and glaring, he opened his mouth but Knuckles cut in.

"If you can't speak without screaming, Espio, then zip it. Or talk calmly and tell me what the hell's got into you."

Espio took a long, deep breath, then another, then abruptly said, "I've got to stop them," turned and raced out.

"Huh?" Tails looked at Knuckles, bemused. "Stop who?"

"At a guess I'd say, stop the rest of the CDA talking to this guy." The echidna frowned. "Tails, do you have any idea what's going on?"

Tails shook his head. "Uh uh. I...I think he wants me, though."

"_I wants_ don't get," Knuckles said flatly. "Especially not when it's him doing the wanting. I'm going to see what the hell's happening, Tails. You stay here."

"Nuh uh!" Tails got to his feet, stumbled and would have fallen if Knuckles hadn't caught him. "I'm not staying here, Knux, no way. Not when all ol' Scarface has to do to get me is walk in. I'm gonna stick with you."

Knuckles opened his mouth to argue, saw the stubbornness in Tails' expression and gave in.

"Fine. Okay. C'mon."

The two of them made their way to the outer office, where Sonic and Bait were already hovering. The door was ajar, and Espio had obviously snuck through it not so long ago.

"Knux?" Tails whispered.

"Hm?"

"Can chameleons see other chameleons? If they're invisible, I mean?"

"I..." Knuckles paused. That was an interesting point. "I've no idea," he said candidly. "Ask Espio, if he ever calms down enough."

Inside the office, an invisible hand touched Mighty's shoulder and Espio murmured very softly, "Leave. I'll deal with him alone. And take the bee-brain with you."

Mighty started to refuse, then thought better of it and instead said, "Alright." Looking straight at Scarface, he added, "You want Espio? Wait and we'll get him for you. Charmy, come on."

"Huh? Mighty, we can't leave a _client_ alone, you know what Vector said—"

"He's not here, is he? And I won't tell him if you don't." Mighty grabbed Charmy by the ankle and hauled him out of there, shutting the door behind them. Pushing noiselessly past, Knuckles knelt down and put an ear to the door.

"Mister?" Bait hesitated, then plunged on. "Mister...should you be doin' that? On'y I heard that listenin' in ain't a good thing."

"You're one hundred percent right, Bait," Sonic said fervently. "Eavesdropping is a dishonourable, cowardly act and never approved of in polite society under _any_ circumstances. Hey, budge butt, Knucklehead, some of us wanna hear too, you know."

Knuckles raised a supercilious eye ridge, but moved over obligingly and Sonic pressed his own ear to the door.

"Espio!" That was Scarface; Espio must have reappeared. "Long time no see."

"Lugnor." Contrary to the other chameleon's tones, Espio's could have been used to freeze oxygen.

"Lugnor?" Tails whispered.

"Well, you didn't think he was really called Scarface, did you?" Sonic asked rhetorically.

The door crashed open and Espio stared hard at the group.

"If you want to spy on me, at least do a good job of it. Get out of here, all of you."

Without waiting for a reply, he slammed the door again, leaving the others looking at each other with slightly red faces.

"I think there's a passage or somethin' runs above that room," Bait volunteered. "We could go listen from there."

"You shouldn't," Tails said, staring at Bait with something remarkably like hatred. "Espio said we weren't to do it."

Bait shook his head. "Uh uh. He on'y said if we wanted to spy on him, we was to do a good job of it."

There was a pause, then Sonic laughed. "He's right. C'mon guys." Leading the way over to a square grille on the wall, he levered it out silently, revealing a dark passageway.

"The air ducts?" Knuckles said flatly. "Could this get any more cliché?"

"You don't have to come, Knucklehead." Sonic pushed himself up and into the narrow space, closely followed by Bait.

"Oh, I wouldn't miss _this_ for the world," Knuckles murmured, not quite under his breath, then looked back at Tails. "You coming?"

Tails hesitated – the darkness of the air duct reminded him strongly of the tunnels, especially the prison – then nodded once.

The two of them caught up with Sonic and Bait just as Scarface was saying, "...sorry for what he's done to me." He fingered the horrific bite marks.

"Sorry?" Espio echoed. "I'm only sorry he didn't kill you."

"I imagine you'd have liked that, wouldn't you?" Scarface shook his head. "You always were jealous of me, Espio, even when we were kids. I guess that's why you never call or write anymore, not even a card. My birthday was last April, you know."

"Yeah, I know. We hatched on the same day, or had you forgotten that little fact? There was only about two seconds in it, or so your parents said." Espio pulled out a shuriken and started toying with it. "And I see no reason in celebrating the _other _little fact that you've lived so damn long!"

Scarface smiled coldly. "_My_ parents? Let me explain something to you, little _brother_—"

"You're no brother of mine," Espio said equally coldly.

The smile dropped off Scarface's features. "Fine. Shall we cut the crap? Hand over the iguana and the fox and you'll never hear from me again."

"If I take off your head or slice open your belly I'll never hear from you again," Espio answered, "and that way at least I won't have any more innocent blood on my hands."

"No? What about killing _me_?"

"I said _innocent_ blood, Lugnor."

"You're not still on about Verza, are you?" Scarface snorted. "Let it—"

"If you _dare_ tell me to let it go, I will beat you to death." The way Espio spoke sent a chill down the eavesdroppers' collective spines; it wasn't said angrily or warningly, but as a simple statement of fact, each word separately cleanly and distinctly from the others.

It didn't seem to impress Scarface, who simply laughed.

"Yeah? What'd you call that, Espio? Poetic justice? Isn't that how your precious Verza died; through being flogged to death?"

"You should know," Espio said quietly. "You were the one who murdered her."

"Fraternisation among slaves is strictly forbidden, Espie. You know that as well as I do. You confided in me and I simply did my duty. Think yourself lucky they didn't make _you_ carry out the sentence; they thought about it. If it hadn't been for me, you'd have been the one up there. And how do you repay me? You go psycho and wipe out most of our colleagues, then vanish and nobody ever hears from you again."

"They were _your_ colleagues, Lugnor," Espio said, now so softly that the four eavesdroppers above could barely hear him. "Never mine."

"No? I seem to remember you were usually the first one down the bar with them at the end of a shift." Scarface snickered quietly. "And now look at you, Espio. How the mighty have fallen."

"Funnily enough, I was about to say the same thing. I'm ashamed to think of my part in all that, but at least I take the responsibility for my actions."

"Oh, very big," Scarface sneered. "If that's the case, why haven't you told your so-called friends about yourself? You almost died of shock when you saw me again."

"Oh _please_."

Scarface smiled slightly. "Yeah. Now where have I heard that before? Don't answer, Espio; I know damn well where _you've_ heard it before, albeit with a slightly different emphasis. I'll do you a deal. A hundred Mobiums and I'll, er, _lose_ the lizard; he can die trying to escape or something similar and I'll leave him alone. But the fox is _mine_. I owe him for my face."

"Really?" Espio said coolly. "Hadn't noticed much of a difference myself."

"Knux?" Tails whispered. "Knux, I wanna go."

"In a minute," Knuckles whispered back. This was too fascinating to leave now.

"I know you're hiding him, Espie. You've changed your attitude towards slaves a bit, but I don't care about that. Hand over the two-tailed freak and the money for the iguana and there's nothing more to be said."

"I don't control the treasury and even if I did, I wouldn't pay you blood money."

"Knux." Tails seized the echidna's arm, fingers digging in hard enough to leave bruises. "Knux, _please_."

Knuckles glanced at the fox, saw the genuine panic on his face and nodded.

"Alright kid. Okay. C'mon. We'll go to the TV room, shut the door. Even chameleons can't walk through solid objects. If that Scarface turns invisible and comes looking for you, we'll be ready."

Carefully, he extricated himself from the four person pile-up and started to crawl backwards, Tails following. Wary of being discovered, neither of them said a word until they were in the TV room and Tails was lying face down on one of the giant beanbags and trying not to yawn.

"Get some sleep, kid," Knuckles told him. "I'll keep watch."

"Why's everyone always telling me to get...some..." Tails' voice trailed off in a huge yawn.

"That's why," Knuckles told him. "You need rest to heal. Speaking of healing..." He hesitated, then took a deep breath. "Tails...I'll have to splint your tail if you ever want to fly with it again."

Tails looked at him apprehensively.

"Does splinting hurt?"

The echidna hesitated before saying quietly, "Yeah. A lot. But if it's not done, you're never gonna be able to use that tail again. If you want, I could get Sonic, ask him to do it."

Tails shook his head. "Uh uh. You do it, Knux. I trust you."

"And you don't trust Sonic?" Knuckles said, only half joking.

Tails hunched over, wincing as the motion tore at his raw back, then glanced up at him.

"I _kinda_ do. Like I trust him not to hurt me or sell me out or something like that. But...Knux, I keep...whenever I think of Sonic I always see him back in Robotnik's fortress, telling me I'm just a little kid and to get outta his sight." He hugged his knees with one arm, the other one dangling loosely by his side. "Knux? Knux, is...is what happened between me'n'Sonic back there gonna change things forever?"

_How? _Knuckles thought wretchedly. _Kid's hurting bad enough already; how can I answer him honestly on top of all that? How can I do it?_

_Like the kid said, how can I not?_

"Yeah," he said aloud. "You might get back on your old footing with Sonic eventually, but that'll take time and I doubt you'll ever forget what happened between the two of you." Knuckles filled a bowl with warm water and carried it over, along with some wooden rods (some kind of ninja stuff of Espio's, no doubt) which would probably do for splints. "This'll hurt, kid, but it's got to be done. Okay?"

Tails hesitated. "I guess. No, wait!"

Knuckles, who had reached out, paused. "What?"

"Knux?" Tails eyed him a little nervously. "You're not gonna chew it off, are you?"

Knuckles' jaw dropped with an almost audible clang. "What the hell put _that_ screwed up idea into your head?"

"I saw lotsa people do it, Knux. You got an infection, they'd do it. They'da done it to me if you hadn't come, once they were sure. Y'know, once it started to smell. Sometimes they'd saw it off or make you or someone else chew it off but it was always the same." Tails looked up at the echidna. "But you're not gonna chew it off, right Knux? Right?"

"For the love of...no, Tails! I am _not_ going to chew it off! For one thing, I'm not that barbaric and for another, if I did I'd be spitting fur for a week. And this time when I grab you, try _not_ to rip my throat out, okay?" he added with biting sarcasm. The echidna took hold of Tails' broken tail and the fox bit back a yelp. Seeing a thin dribble of red where Tails had bitten through his lip, Knuckles reached out, lifted a dining chair and broke off one of the legs. "Here."

Tails eyed it suspiciously. "What's that for?"

"Biting. You can sink your teeth into that if you have to sink them into anything. It probably tastes better than echidna," Knuckles added, not quite under his breath, then regretted it as Tails' ears flattened in shame. "Oh, hey kid, I'm sorry. I didn't really mean that."

"'Sokay," Tails mumbled. "You gonna splint me now, Knux?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I am."

The next ten minutes was a time that Tails never forgot, one in which most of the beatings he'd had to endure over the past couple of months paled in comparison. Although Knuckles wasn't actually rough, he wasn't swayed by Tails' occasional whimpering either, and the fox couldn't help comparing the echidna's way of dealing with things to Sonic's. When Sonic had treated him before, he'd done so very gingerly and in several sessions in an attempt to minimise the pain. If he'd seen Tails was suffering enough to bite through his lip, he'd have stopped immediately, whereas Knuckles just tossed him a chair leg and told him to get on and bite if he wanted to. The fox wasn't sure which method of caring he preferred.

"Knux..." Tails hated saying anything, but the pain was too much to bear. "Knux...please stop."

"Not yet," Knuckles said relentlessly. "If I don't get this done now I doubt I ever will."

"You c'n finish it later, Knux, jus'..._please_."

The echidna sat back, looked at him and took a deep breath. "Tails, I am sorry that this is hurting you so much, believe me, but it's gotta be done and putting it off is only gonna make it hurt more."

"Hurts more'n wrist."

"I'm not surprised. You were right; they broke your tail in at least three places. I have to get it all straightened out before I can splint it. That's what's causing the pain." Knuckles looked at the fox's agonised expression and relented. "Look. It's five to six. If I haven't finished it by six o'clock, I'll stop and let you have a break. Okay?"

"How long a break?"

Knuckles scrutinised him thoughtfully. "Five minutes. Don't look at me like that; your tail is going to be splinted today whether you like it or not."

"C'n I get some painkillers?"

"Once you're taking that break or I've finished, then sure. Now bite your chair leg and be quiet; the six o'clock cutoff doesn't count if you keep me talking until then."

"Knux, can I have another chair leg? One to squeeze as well as bite?"

Without looking up or stopping, the echidna grabbed another chair in one hand, smashed it down on the floor and handed Tails the leg, then returned to splinting.

Tails, who had been watching the second hand tick round through a faintly red haze of agony, was barely conscious when six o'clock finally came.

"Knux?"

The echidna glanced at the clock and swore under his breath.

"Okay. You wanna stop?"

Tails nodded vigorously. "Knux, how much more've you gotta do?"

"I need to bandage it, that's all. I've got it aligned. We can stop if you really want to, but if you move I might have to realign it."

"I won't move, Knux, honest, but stop. Please."

Irritated – another half a minute and it would have been done – Knuckles sat back. A deal was a deal, after all, and the kid had been remarkably patient under the circumstances.

"Why'd they hurt you so badly, anyway?" he asked.

"I tried to escape, Knux. They threw me in the prison but I tunnelled all the way into the echidna library."

"Yeah, I want to talk to you about that. What echidna library?"

Tails looked at him solemnly. "It's got all the logs, Knux. All the echidna history, right from the very first one to when your people left for Angel Island. Log number five one four oh two seven. Written by Bolwan. I translated it an' they wanted me to translate the rest of 'em for them, but I refused."

"Back up. You tried to escape – well, I'd have been seriously worried if you hadn't – and found some kinda library. Then what? They caught you?"

Tails looked away. "Uh huh. They caught me, Knux. I tried to get away but I couldn't. They caught me an' then they beat me until I thought I was gonna die. They wanted me to translate the log for them, but I wouldn't do it." He hesitated, then looked back up at the echidna. Knuckles wouldn't lie, he knew, he could ask Knuckles. "Knux? C'n I ask you something?"

"If it's got anything to do with where babies come from, then the answer is _no_! One explanation was harrowing enough!"

"No, 's not that. It's...Knux, you remember when I tried to kill you an' then couldn't remember doing it?"

"Yeah, kid, I remember. Usually about three o'clock every damn morning. Why?"

Tails cringed but continued bravely. "I...once, back in that place, I stopped for a few seconds. Jus' a few, but one of the overseers saw and whipped me. The next thing I remember I was lying on the ground, I'd been beaten all over and one of the overseers – dunno if it was the same one – was all chewed and bloody. They didn't beat you that badly for resting, but I been wondering...Knux, was it me who hurt that guy? Did I chew him up and forget about it like I did you?"

"If you did, I'd say he deserved it," Knuckles retorted flippantly, then caught sight of Tails' miserable face and shook his head. "I don't know, kid, and that's the truth. It's...well, yeah, it's possible. Why worry about some piece of filth like him though?"

"I'm not. I'm worrying 'bout _me_. I attacked him an' I attacked _you_ an' I don't remember doin' it an'...an'..." Tails winced in pain and bit down on the chair leg as Knuckles reached behind and started strapping the injured limb. "I dunno who I might attack next," he went on, somewhat indistinctly. "When they were trying to make me tell 'em 'bout the caves, they said they'd decided against punishing me too badly for attacking an overseer. I thought ol' Scarface was just framing me 'cause he didn't like me, but what if he was telling the truth? What if it really _was_ me? What if I'm—_owp_!"

"Sorry. Won't be long now." Knuckles tightened the binding, strapping the tail firmly to the splint. "That's—" He started to say _got it_, but at that point the chair leg dropped onto his foot in two neat halves.

"Sorry," Tails said in a small voice, and spat the rest of it out. Knuckles raised his eye ridges.

"I'm impressed. I didn't think your jaws were that strong."

"Even after I chewed on you?" Tails dared to ask.

"Yeah, even then." Knuckles hoped there was nothing in his voice to show just how scared he'd been when Tails had done that. Pounding in a fit of temper was one thing – and Knuckles had ample experience of that, at least as far as Tails was concerned – but back in the tunnels, the fox had really acted...crazy. If he'd done to Scarface what he'd done to Knuckles, it was entirely possible the chameleon had beaten him into unconsciousness not through sadism so much as self-defence.

"Wish I coulda munched Sonic some," Tails muttered.

"Oh, you do, huh?" Knuckles shook his head. "He was the one who insisted on finding you, who wouldn't quit no matter how bad it got."

"Bet you wouldn't quit either."

"Alright, maybe I wouldn't," the echidna admitted. "But it was Sonic who managed to keep a reasonably cool head, cool enough to think things through."

"Yeah, but it was _you_ who found me and then Sonic showed up with that Bait kid—" Tails abruptly shut his mouth with a snap.

Knuckles rolled his eyes, enlightened but unimpressed. "Oh, so _that's_ what all this is about. You're jealous of Bait."

"I am not!" Tails denied untruthfully.

"Wise up, kid; this is _me_ you're talking to." The echidna sighed. How in the name of the Master Emerald was he going to straighten _this_ one out? "There's no law saying you only have to have one sidekick or adopted little brother, Tails."

"Well, there should be!"

"If you're working up to throwing a tantrum, kid, it can wait until I'm out the room. I've no time for childish hysteria." Knuckles considered. "I'll tell you something about Bait, kid. I don't think he'll mind. His big brother – his real big brother, I mean – used to beat and burn him every time he put a paw wrong, or if there was nothing more interesting to do. Sonic rescued him. After all you've been through, Tails, I wouldn't have thought you'd want to inflict something like that on anyone."

Tails winced. "No. But Knux, it was Bait who led me to those guys. An' then when I saw him with Sonic..."

Knuckles closed his eyes resignedly, understanding. Damn! They really should have foreseen this. He couldn't blame the kid; Knuckles himself would have been less than happy in that situation.

"Look, whatever you think of Sonic now, however you see him, he would never, ever team up with anyone who hurt you without a very, very good reason. We couldn't have found you without Bait."

"Knux, is he coming to Angel Island with us?"

The echidna snorted. "You're kidding, right? No, he damn well isn't! I put up with that kid purely because even I can admit there's no way Sonic and I would have found you without him, but he sold you and the Emeralds know how many other people out and that's something I'm not going to forgive in a hurry." He paused. "Anyway, I didn't think you were too fond of Sonic anymore, so why should you care who he hangs out with?"

"I care if he hangs out with the jerkal who sent me down there," Tails said almost inaudibly. "I know he's not my best buddy anymore..." His voice trailed off and he picked at the blankets with his good hand.

"But you wish he still was, right?"

Tails looked up at him with an agonised expression. "I don't know anymore, Knux. I...kinda. Part of me says if we were still best buddies an' if he'd never fallen off the rail that time I'd never have ended up in that place, but then I'd never have found out that you're actually a real nice and caring guy under your crusty outside."

"Easy with the butter, kid," Knuckles said shortly.

"'S true though. I wish Sonic an' me were still friends though. 'Cause, you know, we go back a long way."

"Nothing stopping you."

Tails looked away again. "I dunno. Maybe we could talk...if he suggested it."

Knuckles rolled his eyes. He knew full well what _that_ was about; Tails didn't want to appear weak, didn't want to lose face.

_Yeah, and I can't help but wonder if I'm setting the kid a good example._

"Tails, Sonic wants to make friends with you as much as you do him, if not more. You did some incredible stuff down in those tunnels, kid. Don't screw it up now by acting like a spoilt little brat."

"I'm _not_ acting like a spoilt little brat!"

"You are when you're like this. You want things to get back to normal after a fight, don't sit on your hands waiting for Sonic to make the first move, and don't scowl at me like that either, Tails, or your face'll freeze that way."

"Really?" The scowl dropped off Tails' face to be replaced with an eager expression. "Cool!"

"No, it isn't _cool_! Whoever heard of a hero who looked like a gargoyle? Think of the looks you'd be passing onto your children if you ever decided to have any."

Tails subsided into a grumpy silence. "Not much chance of that, Knux, since you still haven't told me where to find one of those pumps."

The echidna groaned. He should have seen that one coming. He'd made a serious mess out of teaching Tails the facts of life and was currently hovering between two suspicions, the first being that Tails now thought that sex was something akin to pumping up a bicycle tire and the second that he'd been well and truly wound up. Neither prospect pleased.

"Anyway," Tails added, "how'm _I_ supposed to know what to say to make things better again?"

"You could always ask another star for help," Knuckles said, smirking slightly. Tails shot him a pained look.

"Sonic told you about that, huh? Yeah, well, that stuff's for dumb little kids who don't know any better. Making those wishes wasn't what brought Sonic to me."

Knuckles raised both eye ridges. "How do you know?"

"Stars are just balls of gas, Knux. They don't care what you wish."

A slightly mischievous gleam came into Knuckles' eyes. "You think? How many balls of gas do you know?"

Tails favoured him with an old-fashioned look. "Balls of gas don't have ears. How can they hear over billions and billions of miles?"

"I don't know. I'm not a ball of gas."

"An' why should something that's only made outta gas care anyway?"

"I don't know," Knuckles said again. "Then again, you're only made out of flesh, blood, bones, fur and organs, but _you_ care about things."

Tails glanced up at him. "Yeah, but still...I'm a tough guy, Knux, and tough guys don't need help from _anyone_!"

Knuckles snorted. "Right. So if I'd left you in the mine, you could have broken those chains all by yourself, huh? Well, I wish you'd mentioned that in the visions and saved me the trek."

Tails winced. "Don't talk about that place, Knux. Please."

The echidna rolled his eyes. "Alright, if it makes you feel any happier, I won't talk about what happened to you down in those tunnels. But _you_ should."

"There's no point, Knux. It's over."

Knuckles snorted. "What I'm trying to say is that standing on your pride doesn't always work, kid. Look at Selphur; he learned that lesson the hard way."

"Huh?" Distracted just as Knuckles had hoped, Tails fixed him with an inquisitive look. "Who's Selphur? What lesson? What're you talking about?"

Knuckles folded his arms and stared hard at Tails. "If I tell you this story, are you gonna go to sleep after it?"

Tails hesitated, then nodded. Knuckles' actually _volunteering_ to tell him an echidna story was rare enough for him to want to take advantage of it. Usually he had to trade a full day's worth of mechanical tinkering and repairs; not that he minded that either, but still...

"Well...okay. You're not going anywhere, right Knux?"

"After all the crap I had to go through to get back here with you? You're kidding, right?"

Satisfied, Tails lay down again, snuggling into the giant beanbag as best as his newly-splinted tail would allow.

"Okay. So c'mon Knux, what's the story?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Alright. Once, long ago in the Beginning Times, there lived a mighty echidna warrior called Selphur. He'd overcome all the traditional challenges when he was barely an adolescent, and this brought a load of honour to his family. Unfortunately, it also turned Selphur himself into a stuck up, arrogant little snot who boasted he never needed help from anybody, no matter how big or small a problem was. One day, there was a huge storm, thunder, lightning, wind, rain, all the works. While he was sheltering in his family's cave, Selphur said, 'I'm tired of hiding like this from the weather. Someone has to do something to put an end to all the storms for good and that someone's me.'. Neither of his parents could work out how he planned to accomplish this miracle, but then Selphur said, 'Storms come from the clouds, right? So if we knew what the clouds were made from, maybe we could build something to chase them away.'. Once he'd come up with this idea, nothing would deter him from it, and as soon as the storm was over, he immediately went to the priestess and asked her for a special jar that could trap a bit of the cloud. The priestess gave it to him instantly, since she had the hots for Selphur and hoped he'd remember her if he succeeded. So that only left Selphur with the problem of how to reach the clouds. He thought and he thought and in the end he decided to build a thousand crates, stack them one on top of the other and climb to the top. His family and the rest of the clan offered to help him, but he was so proud and so determined to do it all for himself that he told them all, even the clan elders, to stick it. Selphur hammered and built for six full moons, until finally the thousandth crate was placed on top of his tower. He—what was that?" Knuckles interrupted himself, turning sharply to the window.

Tails looked edgy. "I dunno. You said there was no one else here other than us an' Sonic an' Bait an' the Chaotix. Least, no one who could get into this room."

"There isn't." The echidna crossed over to the window and looked out into the growing darkness for long minutes before reluctantly dismissing it. "Must've been my imagination."

"So what happened? Hey Knux, c'mon! What _happened_?" Tails demanded, sitting up again. Knuckles glanced at him.

"If you don't lie down right this second, Tails, you'll never know."

Tails complied, lying back as slowly as he could. Knuckles didn't call him to task over it; the Emeralds knew that lying in any position had to be extremely painful for the kid.

"Better," was all he said, once Tails was fully recumbent, eager eyes fastened on the echidna. "As I was saying, Selphur put the thousandth crate on the top of his tower and then started to climb it. He climbed for a day and a night and finally reached the top, only to find that he couldn't quite reach the clouds, no matter how much he jumped. He shouted down to the other echidnas, who had all gathered to watch, that he needed one more crate. The head of the clan shouted up that they would get to work building one right away, but Selphur yelled back that he didn't need help from anyone, that he'd only ever climb crates he'd built with his own two hands, that he wouldn't accept another crate from any echidna. But he didn't want to climb all that way down and all that way back up again, so he thought and thought before shouting down, 'Take out the bottom crate and pass it up to me'."

Tails' face split into a slow, disbelieving grin.

"He didn't!"

"Oh, he did."

"_Cool_! So what happened?"

Knuckles glanced at him. "You really need me to tell you?"

"Uh huh. C'mon Knux, don't stop there. Tell me the rest."

The echidna shrugged. "There isn't much more to tell. The tower came crashing down and Selphur came down with it. Luckily he was able to glide, so he wasn't seriously hurt, but he had lost the respect of the clan forever, all because he was so determined to stand on his pride."

"Wow." Tails snuggled down into his beanbag. "How come I never heard that story before, Knux?"

"Probably because it's Sagayan and you're not," Knuckles retorted succinctly. "And don't breathe a word of it to anyone else either."

"Why? 'Cause it's some kind of mystical echidna secret?"

"No, because if Sonic ever found out I'd told it to you, he'd rib me about it until the day I died!"

Tails blinked up at him sleepily. "Not to tell Sonic'll cost another story, Knux."

Knuckles glared at the fox, torn between irritation and amusement.

"Alright. But not now and don't get any cute ideas about spinning that out indefinitely. One story buys your silence on the subject for _good_, okay?"

"Mm?" Already drifting to sleep, Tails barely heard the echidna's words. Well, that was fine as far as Knuckles was concerned; he'd be more than happy to refresh the kid's memory.

The echidna checked to make sure Tails really was asleep, then opened the door and came face to face with a grinning Sonic.

"Take out the bottom crate, huh?" the hedgehog said.

"You were listening," Knuckles accused, shutting the door behind him.

"And a very nice story it was, too," Sonic said lightly. "I didn't know echidnas bothered with such trivialities."

"We don't usually." A mixture of embarrassment and anger surged up in him and Knuckles said, "What happened to the spy deal?"

"Ah, Espio called Mighty and Mighty chucked Scarface out by his snout horn. Just as well, really; Bait sneezed around that time and almost gave the game away so we decided to get out while the going was good. How's Tails?"

"Sleeping. You know where I can get a spare blanket?"

Sonic shrugged. "Sure. Take a couple of mine." He made a sweeping gesture towards the room he was using and Knuckles shot him a look before stepping in and pulling two blankets off the bed.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it." The hedgehog waited until Knuckles was almost in the door before saying, "Knux?"

"What?" The echidna glared over his shoulder.

Sonic pouted. "Don't I get a bedtime story too?"

He barely had enough time to duck before a jug came hurtling through the air at his head to shatter on the wall behind.

"Nice!" he said in an injured tone. "A simple _no_ would've done just fine."

"Where's Bait?"

"Having a bath," Sonic said. "Under extreme protest, I might add; apparently he wants to sample the local nightlife. I told him he's underage for most of it, but he wouldn't listen." He shook his head. "He never complained about bathing in ponds or rivers, so I dunno what his problem is."

"Are you going to take him with you?" Knuckles asked.

"Might as well," Sonic said resignedly, "I'd've taken Tails, but since he doesn't want to come..." He let the sentence trail off.

"Don't fish for sympathy in a puddle, Sonic," Knuckles told him brusquely. "No, he doesn't, and I don't blame him. Now let's drop it. You can come visit the kid on Angel Island whenever you want, so long as you leave Bait behind."

"Nice," Sonic said again, grinning. "So you get Tails and I get lumbered with Bait." He shook his head. "Man, can't we at least get a recount on that?"

"C'mon Sonic, you know you like being idolised and Bait's damn good at that, even if he's not so good at other things."

"Okay!" Sonic flung his hands up in mock surrender, still grinning. "You take the quiet little patient and I'll take our resident kleptomaniac."

"Sonic!"

"What?" Sonic said innocently.

"That's—" Knuckles broke off abruptly. "What was that?"

"What?" Sonic said again, in a completely different tone of voice.

"I thought I heard footsteps, that's all." Knuckles frowned slightly. "That's the second time this evening."

"Maybe you're cracking up," Sonic suggested.

"Maybe." Knuckles hadn't really heard him. Opening the door, he found the hallway outside deserted. Probably just Espio doing his nightly patrol. Closing the door and turning, he saw Sonic was busy dealing out two hands of cards.

"Sonic—"

"C'mon Knux, just one round. I can't sleep tonight, so the least I can do is make sure you can't either."

Knuckles opened his mouth to argue, foresaw the likely outcome of such an argument and shut it again wearily.

"One round, Sonic, that's all, then I have to get these back to Tails."

"Whatever you say, sidekick of mine," Sonic said lightly. "Knockout whist, cut for trumps?"

"Suits me."

Neither of them gave the footsteps a second thought.

**Okay, it's done :P Happy Christmas everyone and if you read this, please review :)**


	17. Home Truths

**Okay...so after starting work on converting _Secrets of the Emeralds_ to graphic novel format, I'm in a serious Sonic mood :P Enjoy!**

**CHT.BI: Thanks :) As for who it was...you'll find out in this chapter ;)**

**Kj: You did; you got me a review :P That counts as a Christmas pressie, at least to me ;)**

**XTailsX: Ah...but are they? And thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it :D**

**Pyro Hedgehog4Ever: (blushes) Well...it's kinda what I do for a living :) The Void...it is still out there but it's behaving itself at the moment :P Or at least, not coming after Sonic et al; I figured they had enough to be going on with right now ;) It'll show up again, don't you worry (weg)**

**Toboe16: Heh, I live to worry people ;) As for Tails talking to Sonic...well, the answer is both yes and no. That's yes, it's very likely he'll talk to him and no, not in this story.**

**Matri90: You'll have to wait and see ;) The bedtime story...sort of. It was based on a story I heard when I was about four; a king wanted to touch the moon and got all the boxes in the kingdom, built a tower, stood on it, found he was one box short and told his advisors to pull out the bottom box and...well, you know the rest ;) I updated it and changed it a lot to make it more echidna-like but that was the original inspiration :P**

**FriedBrickWall: (_Sonic: Hey, I was kidding! Though it was kinda disappointing, but still, I. Was. Kidding!_) Is Lugnor a real name...well, not really, but then Espio isn't either :P If you really want to know where it came from, I went onto WorldLingo. Espio's name literally means _I spy_. I worked on the spy theme and Lugnor (or something similar) turned out to be the Dutch for _liar_. I think it was Dutch, anyway :S **

**SaffraEchidna: Thanks; glad you liked it :D**

**Asher Tye: Heh, you're right about Espio; I was wondering if anyone was gonna comment on it :P I'm not sure what his friends are going to think...maybe they won't find out ;) Sonic and Tails back on friendly terms...it's likely to happen at some point :)**

**Moonpaw7: Thanks, I'll try :)**

_Guardian's Log no. 11483_

_I'm losing my grip on things. That's twice today I've heard something that wasn't there. It can't have been Scarface – at least, not the second one – because I know for a fact that Mighty threw him out...and when Mighty throws someone out, they stay thrown. Tails was asleep, Sonic was with me and I can't think why Espio would spy on us...then again, he doesn't usually need a reason._

_--Knuckles the Echidna_

_My Memoirs by Me_

_Where the hell did ol' Knucklehead learn to play knockout whist like that? Man, and I thought Bait was good! I now owe Knux seventeen Mobiums (and whoever came up with the points method of reckoning winnings should be strung up by his big toe!)_

_Had the usual debate/argument with Bait about baths, or lack thereof in his case. I did manage a compromise though; the kid's more than happy to shower. Personally, I don't see what the difference is between going into a tub of water and going into a forest lake, although admittedly there's no carpet to worry about splashing in the forest._

_Tails wasn't nearly this difficult though, but I think I'm starting to get a handle on this responsibility lark._

_--Sonic the Hedgehog_

_Dear Diary_

_I'm writing this hunched down in a giant beanbag and hoping that Scarface doesn't catch me. Yes, he's here, in the CDA office. Knux said he'll protect me (at least, I think that's what he implied; it's so hard to tell with Knuckles) but he's not here at the minute and if Scarface comes in and finds me...he can go invisible just like Espio so there's no way I'd even know. I hope the rest of the CDA see through him though._

_--Tails_

_Bait's Jurnal_

_This is gonna be the last entry. I'm outta here. Not to Raker but to a place far away from here where I can live on my own. No Raker, no Sonic and no more getting hurt neither. Sonic can keep his bruther. I dont want nuthing mor to do with him._

_It hurts tho. Big time. I wish I cud say Im suprised but Im not. I guess I was wayting for sumthing like this to happen._

_So whys it still hurt?_

_--Bait the Jakkel_

Tails was still sound asleep when Knuckles got back into the room, if you could call the occasional whimper and twitch _sound_, the echidna thought. No prizes for guessing what the kid was dreaming about either. Knuckles knew what that meant. The healing process was beginning, but to heal you had to suffer first.

_That kid's in for some very, very bad nights._

He sighed. Indirectly, so was he; Tails really was a lot tougher than even Knuckles would have given him credit for in the beginning, but he was still just a little kid.

_Yeah. And guess where little kids go for comfort after a screaming nightmare?_

Well, Knuckles supposed that he couldn't deny the kid. After all, he knew better than most people what it was like to wake up after a terrifying nightmare and have nobody to turn to.

"Bait still in the bathroom?" Sonic said from the doorway. Knuckles glanced at him.

"What the hell are you asking me for? He's your shadow."

"Ha ha," Sonic informed him. "Was that a yes or a no?"

The echidna sighed. "No. Not unless he's taken to bathing with the door open."

Sonic snorted. "Fat chance. If there's a lock, he has to put it across. Well, if he's out I'm going in for a shower." Sonic turned back to the corridor and raised his voice. "Anyone wanna use the bathroom, speak now or forever hold your pees 'cause I'm gonna be a while! Anyone? Last call? Okay, too late, it's mine."

He raced away, slamming and locking the door behind him. A few minutes later, Knuckles heard the sound of running water and shortly afterwards Sonic's voice raised in song, or at least a close approximation.

"Oh, I've been all around the world and I've never kissed a girl, but the beggar's daughter brought me to my knees. So I took her in an alley, and then inside a valley, where I found she had a chronic case of fleas."

Knuckles rolled his eyes. The Cherry Pip Song, as it was commonly known, was a popular drinking song (especially in the Jungle Zone) and one of Sonic's favourites, despite the fact that he rarely bothered to sing all nine verses in the right order.

Glancing at Tails' sleeping form, Knuckles got to his feet and moved over to study the bookshelves.

_Man, what I wouldn't give for five minutes inside that echidna library..._

He couldn't, though. That was the worst part of it as far as the echidna was concerned; he had no idea where to find it and even he wasn't callous enough to ask Tails to go back in there, not after the poor kid had only just got out. The thought of his people's records lying there until the end of time was bad, and the thought of people like Sekko getting their oily hands on them was worse.

Reaching up, he pulled down a crime novel and started reading it.

He'd got about a quarter of the way through when Sonic arrived, still towelling himself off, glanced at the book and remarked, "The psychotic teacher did it," then threw himself into a spare beanbag.

Knuckles considered his options, then snapped the book shut. "Alright. Since you've finished your vertical bath – for a hydrophobe you spend a hell of a long time in that shower – and ruined what little entertainment I can find in this place, you might as well tell me what you want."

Sonic reached around, rubbing his shoulders dry as he answered, "I wanna talk to you."

"Obviously."

"Those footsteps...what'd they sound like?"

Knuckles considered for a long while before replying. "Like footsteps."

Sonic paused mid-towel and glowered at him. "Oh, you're a riot! Can't you be any more specific?"

"No. They were footsteps, Sonic. What more do you want me to say?"

"Where were they heading?"

Knuckles frowned, more in concentration than anger. "I think...away from us. Yeah. Away and pretty fast too. Why?"

Sonic took a long, deep breath, expelled it abruptly and took another one.

"Bait's gone. There's no sign of a struggle, but none of his stuff's gone either. Knux, you don't suppose...you don't think Raker got Scarface to come down and distract us?"

"Doubt it." Knuckles' thoughts were on a simpler, yet somehow far more complicated situation. "Sonic, what were you saying just before I mentioned the footsteps?"

Sonic frowned. "I dunno...something about how you'd take Tails and I'd take Bait and then I called him a kleptomaniac—" He broke off, paling. "Oh no."

"Oh _yes_." Knuckles shook his head. "You must really love the taste of your foot, Sonic, given the number of times you stuff it in your mouth."

"You don't really think—"

"What? That Bait overheard and took off on his own? Yeah."

Sonic looked at the echidna. "Knuckles, what is it about me? Every time I say something, someone else overhears and takes it the wrong way! First it was Tails in the Casino Zones and now Bait here."

In spite of the situation, Knuckles smirked slightly. "Well, Sonic, you know what the solution is, don't you? Next time, don't talk or write about someone behind their back because you never know if they're spying on you."

"We have to find him, Knuckles."

"_We_?" the echidna echoed. "Oh no. No way. You're not roping me into _this_ one, Sonic; I'm staying right here. Tails needs me."

"_I_ need you. Tails is out for the count and trust me, Knux, when that kid sleeps, he sleeps. I doubt he'll wake up before midday tomorrow. Raker's still out there and if he finds Bait alone..." Sonic let the sentence trail off.

"Hm. Very dramatic, very stirring and yet I'm completely unfazed. I told you, Sonic; Bait's _your_ responsibility. I'm not going out there with you on some wild hunt and nothing you say is going to change my mind."

"I'll tell the CDA you hugged Tails and told him a bedtime story."

There was a long, long silence.

"Damn you, hedgehog," Knuckles muttered as he pushed past to haul himself out of the open window. "I'll take the park. You search the rest of the Zone and then meet me there." He turned and started to climb the side of the building without waiting for a reply.

In the park in question, Bait stood staring at a tree. There was a knot on it that looked a little like Sonic, if you squinted and turned your head to one side. Taking a deep breath, he started to pummel it as hard as he could, oblivious to the resultant pain in his knuckles.

"I hate you! Hate you hate you hate you hate you hate..." He couldn't find the words to go on. Instead he just continued punching blindly, not even noticing when the blood started to fly from his knuckles with every blow he dealt out.

"Hey!" A white obstacle appeared in front of the tree and Bait took no notice, just hit it hard. It closed around his fist and held him, not tightly but firmly enough to stop him pulling away.

It says something for Bait's strength of feeling that he barely noticed, not even when the other hand received exactly the same treatment. Unable to punch, he switched to kicks instead, but every single one fell short. Eventually, he ran out of energy and leaned against whatever was holding his hands, panting rapidly. He'd only ever felt this exhausted once before in his life, when the gang had been bored and spent the entire afternoon playing Hide'n'Hunt, and run him into the ground in the process.

"Finished?" a voice said coolly from in front of him and the jackal looked up into Knuckles' eyes.

"You!" The pain and anger surged up in him again and he struggled wildly, trying to resume his attack, all to no avail.

"Finished?" Knuckles said again in exactly the same tones when Bait ran out of energy for the second time.

"Knuckles, you're _dead_! You hear me? After everythin' that's happened...after everythin' we...you..." Bait turned his head away, ashamed by the tears he knew Knuckles could see shining in his eyes. "Leave me _alone_," the echidna heard him mutter, and shook his head.

"No, but I'll turn my head away and won't look until you manage to get yourself sorted out, how about that?"

"Jus' leave me alone!" Bait shouted again. "That's what you're both gonna do anyway, innit? You an' Sonic both got your buddy now so you c'n forget all 'bout me! Yeah, well, fine! You go your way, Sonic goes his an' you c'n take your lil buddy with you! I helped you an' now you got what you want an' so you dunt need me no more, right?" He tried unsuccessfully to tug his hands free again. "Well, that's fine mister, 'cause I dunt need _you_! I dunt need you an' I dunt need _Sonic_ neither! I heard what he said; he on'y wants me to stick around 'cause Tails blew him off. I ain't gonna be no one's booby prize, mister, an' you c'n tell Sonic that from me!"

"Why don't you turn around and tell him yourself?" Sonic said very quietly from behind him. "Let him go, Knux."

Knuckles complied, although his stance said that he was quite ready to grab Bait again should the need arise. The jackal spun around, glaring at Sonic with an intensity that inwardly surprised the hedgehog.

Sonic folded his arms across his chest, his face calm and composed as he looked Bait squarely in the eyes, holding the young jackal's gaze for so long that Bait began to squirm slightly. Finally Sonic spoke.

"Is that _really_ what you think of me?" he said, more seriously than Knuckles had ever heard him speak before. "That I'm only offering to keep you with me because there's nothing and no one better on offer?"

For all his faults, Bait was no coward, Knuckles had to admit; the jackal hesitated for a brief instant, then nodded mutinously, keeping that accusing gaze fixed on Sonic.

"I see." Still the same serious, level tone. Sonic looked over at the echidna. "Knuckles, will you leave us alone, please?"

Knowing full well that he'd most likely get a thorough (if somewhat rambling) account of the conversation from Sonic – the hedgehog could never keep serious things to himself for very long – Knuckles obliged. He wanted to check on Tails anyway.

"Right." Sonic continued staring at Bait, not angrily, just...steadily. "You didn't answer this question back in the Aquatic Ruin Zone, so let me ask you again. Have I ever given you a reason not to trust me? The last time I saw Tails, it was through a hail of insults and flying rocks. He said, and I quote, 'if you're gonna keep being such an ungrateful jerk, then you can go to hell'. His words, not mine, and yet I trudged all over Mobius for him. What makes you think I'd abandon you?"

"You tell me, mister! You're the one who was talkin' 'bout me'n'Tails!"

"Which proves three things, Bait; firstly that you've been eavesdropping on at least one of mine and Knuckles' conversations, secondly that it's true listeners never hear any good of themselves and thirdly that you didn't even hear all of it." Sonic shook his head. "I understand your concerns, but why on Mobius didn't you just ask me yourself instead of sneaking around? I thought we'd gotten past all that."

"Thought wrong then, dint you mister?"

There was a long silence.

"No," Sonic said at the end of it, "I don't think I did. I think I'll just choose to believe it was a lapse of judgment, and that's not answering my question. You were worried what would happen once we'd found Tails, fine, I understand that. But why didn't you ask me?"

"'Cause...'cause..."

"Yeah?" Sonic prompted, his tones never altering.

"I thought you'd lie. Y'know, like mebbe you knew you needed me an' so you'd say anythin' to keep me from leavin'."

"I see," Sonic said again. "A liar who betrays his friends. I had no idea you had such a high opinion of me, Bait."

The jackal scuffed a toe along the ground. "Well, now you know, mister."

"Yeah, now I know. I'll tell you something else I know, kiddo. I know the other reason you never asked me; you weren't afraid I'd lie, you were afraid I'd tell the truth and the truth wouldn't be what you wanted to hear."

Bait opened his mouth.

"You've been very honest for most of this conversation," Sonic added. His tone was still perfectly level, but now there was a faint warning there as well. "Don't even _think_ of lying to me now, Bait. Even if I wasn't going to keep you with me, I would have seen you alright before leaving. Maybe you just use and lose people in that damned gang of yours, but I've never gone down that path and I've no intention of doing so either."

"Mister...I don't think you're exactly a _liar—_"

"A liar is someone who tells a lie, Bait," Sonic cut across curtly. "It doesn't matter if he does it once in his entire life or once every five seconds; he's still a liar."

"Did you know, then? If I'd asked you back at Aquatic Ruin, would you've been able to tell me what you was plannin' to do with me?"

"No," Sonic said candidly, "but I'd have been able to tell you that I wouldn't leave you stranded." He shook his head. "Bait, you are no booby prize, as you put it, and the only time I've been seriously tempted to leave you alone to your own devices occurred during the last ten minutes."

Bait's head snapped up to look at Sonic and the hedgehog saw for the first time how scared the kid really was.

_He's only two years older than Tails_. Sonic was never able to explain why that realisation hit him so suddenly, but there was no escaping it. _He's still just a little kid, and..._

Understanding dawned and he took a deep breath.

"You're still afraid of Raker, aren't you?"

Bait squirmed. "Mister...you still dunt really know what he's like. One guy, he run off and when Raker caught him he ripped the skin from his back while he was still alive. I was on'y six then, but I still remember it like it was yesterday."

"Did he die?" Sonic asked very quietly.

"Well, no, mister. Least, not at first. He might've survived, but the bugs came an' got a hold an' then there was all these squirmy things wrigglin' in his flesh an'..." Bait looked away. "He died then, mister, but it took him a long time."

"Tell me something," Sonic said flatly. "Why do you _really_ want to stay with me? Do you want to do it because we're friends, or because you just want your own personal bodyguard?"

"Why'd Tails first come along with you, mister? Wunt that 'cause he thought bein' friends with you'd stop the other kids pickin' on him?"

For a moment Bait was afraid he'd gone too far, then the barest hint of a smile appeared on Sonic's face.

"Touché, I guess. Yeah, that's a fair point, Bait, but you're forgetting one thing; Tails was completely open and honest about why he wanted me for a friend. A lot of that could be due to the fact that he was only four years old at the time, but it's also something to do with him being outspoken to a fault, even at that age. And although I hate trying to score morality points, I have to say this; if you hadn't been eavesdropping in the first place, you'd never have heard what you did."

"Yeah?" Bait glared at Sonic. "Well, I'm _glad_ I heard! At least now I know what you really think of me, for all them fine words of yours! I'm glad I listened an' I'd do it again! You hear me?"

"Yes, Bait, I can hear you," Sonic said, deliberately keeping his own voice calm. "So can half the Zone, I shouldn't wonder. If all you're going to do is shout at me, you can at least wait until morning. This is between you and me, and there's no reason to make other people suffer."

"I don't care!"

"I do, and if you're going to be like this about it all, then I'm not going to talk or listen to you until you've calmed down."

"Calmed down?" Bait all but shrieked at him. "Calmed _down_? I'd like to see you get stabbed in the back like that, Sonic, see how calm _you_ are! Look at you, jus' standin' there an' not sayin' anythin' new or even sayin' sorry, oh no, that's beneath the great Sonic, huh?"

"In the first place, it's Knuckles who has a blind spot when it comes to saying sorry and secondly, Bait, I'm not going to apologise until I know what I've done wrong. So far, all you've done is rant at me, rave and insult me, accuse me of some pretty low-down, crappy things and yet you've not said one word to back any of this up short of admitting to overhearing part of a conversation between me and Knuckles."

"I heard the whole thing, Sonic, not jus' a part of it!"

"If that was true, Bait, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"So now you're sayin' I'm a liar too?"

"No, I'm saying you're wrong," Sonic said simply. "There's a difference. You heard a chunk, misinterpreted it and ran away. Tell me if I'm wrong."

"You called me a kleptomaniac. I don't think I coulda misinterpreted that so I figured if that's really what you thought of me, I might as well do stuff like that. If I'm gonna be called names or get a beatin', I'd rather deserve it."

"You heard that as well, huh?" Sonic shook his head. "Bait, I was kidding when I said that."

"How was I s'posed to know?" Bait jammed hands on hips and glared at Sonic. "You go 'round makin' a big joke outta ev'rythin', don't you? Well, there's some things that ain't funny, Sonic, an' some things you shouldn't laugh at!"

There was a silence. Sonic, who could see that Bait was genuinely deeply hurt under all his righteous fire, racked his brains, trying to think of the right thing to say.

"Come on," he said eventually. Bait jerked away.

"Nuh uh! Forget it! I ain't goin' back to them friends of yours, an' you can't make me neither!"

"I'm not going to try," Sonic answered calmly. "But it seems like this has been boiling up for some time, so you might as well get it off your chest, and we can thrash this out – Bait, stop looking at me like that; you should know damn well I didn't mean that literally – by the lake. People are less likely to overhear us. Come on; if you want to scream at me some more, then fine, but that's no reason to disturb other people. We're going to the lake. Or at least, I'm going and you can do what you damn well like. If you don't join me in ten minutes, I'll assume you've gone your own way."

"The lake?" Bait glanced at the water.

"No," Sonic said, reading his mind. "I want to talk to you properly, not just shout three or four words at you whenever you come up for air."

Turning, not waiting to see if Bait was following, he strode away between the trees and came to a halt by a bench that was fortunately deserted.

After a couple of minutes had ticked off the clock, Bait arrived, dragging his feet.

"I'm on'y here 'cause I ain't finished talkin', Sonic!"

"Fine," Sonic said coolly. "But first let me say something before you storm off in a temper again; I'm sorry."

The jackal turned darkly suspicious eyes on Sonic. "Sorry that you said it or sorry that I heard you?"

"Both, I guess. But do you really think after all I've already done that I wouldn't keep protecting you?"

"I know you'll protect yourself an' if I was with you that'd involve protectin' _me_. Your li'l brother's safe now, right?" Bait shook his head. "The longer Raker has to wait, the madder he gets an' the worse it'll be. He ain't gonna give up until either him or me's dead. Mebbe Knuckles'll take me."

"Knuckles has hardly been friendly towards you."

"He dint hit me, Sonic, never. That's pretty friendly in my book."

Sonic folded his arms across his chest and stared hard at the jackal. "Neither did I. I've never laid a finger on you, Bait, not violently. You wanted a chance – and then a second chance – and I gave you both those, and now you're going around shouting that I'm basically a backstabbing hypocrite. Nice way to act, after all we've been through."

A stone whistled through the air at his head and Sonic barely had time to dodge – Bait's aim was lethal – then he lunged and seized Bait by the arms, not roughly but firmly enough to immobilise him.

"Alright," he said, lowering his voice. "You want to abuse me some more, you might as well get it off your chest, but if you're going to start behaving like your brother then you and I have nothing further to discuss."

"Yeah?" Bait struggled uselessly against Sonic's hold. "Well, what was I s'posed to think? You was all nice an' friendly until we got your buddy back. Then the next mornin' it was like you dint wanna know me. You got what you wanted an' you dint hafta pretend to like me no more. I know you hate Raker an' what he done but at least _he_ wunt never pretendin' to be somethin' he ain't."

Sonic shook his head. "Bait, listen to me—"

"No!" With an immense effort, the jackal tore himself out of Sonic's grasp and backed out of reach. "I'm done listenin' to you an' all your high-handed talk 'bout never stealin' an' never lyin' an' how you wanna kill Raker for usin' me like he did! Well, what'd _you_ do, Sonic? You tell me that! You was great to me, makin' me feel like we was friends an' it was worth pissin' off Raker, right up until I delivered the goods an' then you dint need my help no more an' so you turned 'gainst me."

"Bait—"

"You wait, Sonic! You're a great one for talkin', love the sound of your own voice, don't you, 'specially when you're lecturin' me on this or that! You said a whole lotta stuff to me while we was travellin' together an' I had to listen, well, now it's my turn to talk!"

Sonic waited until Bait was silent again and then said, "Alright, I'm listening. What more do you want to say to me?"

"Jus' that you can't dump me whenever you feel like it an' if you treat Tails that way it's no wonder the kid's happier with Knux!"

"Alright Bait." Sonic straightened up suddenly. "I've listened to you, now you can listen to me. If you think for one minute that I used you and dumped you—"

"What else'm I s'posed to think?" Bait demanded. "One day you're all nice and junk, the next you treat me like I ain't worthy to lick your feet. An' what happens in between those days? Your precious little brother turns up again! Coincidence? I don't _think_ so. If you on'y wanted me to lead you to him, then fine, but you coulda said so right at the beginnin'! I wunta minded! But to lead me on like that an' then chuck me for Tails...can you honestly say you was gonna keep me with you if Tails had picked you 'steada Knux? You on'y want me 'cause you figure mebbe I'm better'n nothin'. An' I _am_ better'n nothin', Sonic; you taught me that. I ain't gonna be nobody's toy, not after Raker. I'm worth more'n that now an' even if you don't believe everythin' you said to me about how I dint deserve none of what Raker did to me, that don't matter 'cause _I_ believe it. An' I believe that no one got the right to use me'n chuck me when they get what they want from me, not you, Sonic, not Knuckles, not _no one_! I heard what you said an' so I _know_ you don't really care if anythin' happens to me 'cause no one ever did, but that don't mean I don't got _feelin's_, Sonic."

Sonic stared at Bait for a long moment, appalled that his own behaviour could have been misinterpreted so badly, then reacted the only way he knew how; he seized the jackal and pulled him into a tight hug before Bait had time to register the action, let alone evade it. For a few moments, the jackal fought wildly against Sonic – who refused to budge an inch – then abruptly caved in and started to cry in harsh, racking sobs that shook his entire body.

Calmly, moving as slowly as he could, Sonic sat down on the park bench, holding Bait and rocking him gently in much the same way he used to rock Tails whenever the fox had been seriously upset, and waited patiently for the jackal to wind down.

It didn't take long. Less than five minutes had gone by before Bait's sobs subsided, although he showed no inclination to loosen the death hold he now had around Sonic's torso.

"Bait." Sonic spoke very softly, knowing that Bait's acute sense of hearing would pick up the words. "Bait, _listen_. What happened this morning was not your fault. I was upset, sure, but not because of anything you said or did. I just took it all out on you because...well, because I figured you were the easiest target. And as for me and what I said to Knux...I wasn't serious about it. You can ask Knux; he'll tell you I was pretty much laughing while I said it. I'm sorry, kiddo. I'm so, so sorry. I never thought you'd take it like you did or that you'd take it this much to heart." He rubbed the jackal's back soothingly. Bait's sobs had all but stopped now, although he still emitted the occasional hiccup.

"Raker said..." Bait began, and stopped.

"What did Raker say?"

"Said how you was jus' usin' me an' that when you got Tails back, you wunt need me no more. I tole him he was a liar. Then we got Tails back an' you started actin' like you did an'...I thought mebbe..."

Sonic filled in the gap smoothly. "You thought that Raker was right and I was finished with you."

A nod.

"Sonic, would you've taken me along if I hadn't been able to lead you to Tails? Honestly?"

Sonic thought about it for a long, long time before saying, "Yeah. Knuckles probably wouldn'ta done, but me...yeah."

"Why, though? It dunt make no sense. If I couldn't do nothin' for you, why'd you wanna be friends with me? I don't get it."

"That's not how it works," Sonic said dryly. "C'mon. Let's go back."

"Nuh uh!" Bait shook his head vigorously. "I ain't goin' back, Sonic, not yet. Can't we jus' stay here a bit?"

"Alright. Alright, fine." Sonic shifted his weight and Bait scrambled off him to sit next to him instead, now clutching Sonic's hand so tightly that the hedgehog found bruises on it the next morning. "But we can't sleep out here, Bait."

"'S no diff'rent to sleepin' out in the other Zones."

"Yeah, it is, largely because it's not fair to keep the CDA on watch all night when you're safe here with me."

The jackal shook his head. "I ain't goin' with you until you promise you ain't gonna 'bandon me. An' that I ain't gonna be no dumb charity case neither. I don't want you takin' me along for no better reason than you pity me."

"I don't pity you, Bait. If anything, thinking about it makes me angry."

Bait grinned suddenly. "Yeah. I figured that when you whacked Raker. That was a good'un, Sonic, right in the hip, _pow_!" To illustrate the point, he brought one clenched fist smacking down on his leg. "Wish I'd done it too."

"Bait..."

"What? I do." Something seemed to stir in the jackal's mind; he looked away suddenly.

"What's wrong?"

"I..." Bait swallowed. "I...I got somethin' to tell you."

"Yeah?"

"Well...I was all mad at you an' I passed this candy store an' there was this big bar of choc'late an'...well..."

"You stole it?" Sonic said.

Bait flattened his ears. "Yeah. An' I opened it, on'y I felt so bad I couldn't eat it. Then I went back to the shop to try an' return it, but it was closed. I'm sorry, Sonic, honest I am; it was jus'..."

"Go on," Sonic said coolly. "Just what?"

The jackal ducked his head. "I jus' wanted...you hurt me an' I know you don't hold with stealin' so...I dint really mean it, though. I jus' wanted..."

Voice steady, Sonic said, "To hurt me back? Like I hurt you?"

Bait nodded, face mashed against Sonic's chest. He felt, rather than heard, the hedgehog's sigh and cringed. He'd really screwed up now; he might be able to persuade Sonic not to have him arrested for old times' sake, but he'd scuppered any chance he had of lasting friendship.

"An' you mighta been mad this mornin'," he said, voice extremely muffled, "but you wasn't mad this evenin'."

"No. But I wasn't serious either."

"Sonic, what're we gonna do? 'Bout the chocolate? 'Cause the shop's closed an' it's not open again 'til Monday."

"What'd you do with the chocolate?"

Bait's ears flattened even further. "Well...uh..."

"I won't get angry at you or walk out on you if that's what's got you worried."

"No...but you might laugh."

"You know me better than that, Bait. Where is it?"

"Well...you know that pink hedgehog?"

"Amy. Yeah."

"Well...she said how she had all them kids stayin' with her an' I thought...well...mebbe they could share it or somethin' an' so I give it her an' she agreed to take it back an' share it out...so I guess it's in their bellies right about now."

Sonic continued staring at him for a couple of minutes, then shook his head wryly.

"Jeez, Bait, what am I going to do with you? First you steal something to hurt someone, then you give that something to someone else to cheer a group of kids up..." He grinned. "It must be pretty confusing being you, huh?"

A nod, although if the heat on Sonic's ribs was anything to go by, Bait wasn't finding it particularly funny.

"Hey, c'mon. It's okay."

"Are you mad at me? Or dis'ppointed? Honest?"

"Honestly...no. I'd probably be both if you hadn't been so upset when you did it. As it is, I think I'll call it a temporary lapse."

"I jus' thought, y'know, I been tryin' to act like you want ever since I stole that food an' stuff an' then you said what you said an' I thought, well, if you think I'm a thief, I might as well be one."

"I don't think you're a thief, kiddo. Maybe you were but that's past history now, right?"

Another, far more vigorous nod, and Sonic wrapped a friendly arm around the jackal's shoulders. "At least some good's come of this," he added.

Bait glanced up at him curiously. "Yeah? What?"

A slight gleam appeared in Sonic's eyes as he looked back down at the jackal. "Well, for one thing, you've stopped calling me mister."

There was the barest hint of an answering gleam in those liquid brown eyes as Bait answered, "Sorry mister."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Alright, that's getting real old real _fast_! My name's Sonic, okay? One word, two syllables, kid. C'mon, say it; Son-ic."

"Seems kinda rude though."

"You didn't hesitate ten minutes ago. Granted that kind of ties in with what you just said, since you only seem to use my name to insult me with, but still...cut out the mister thing, okay?"

Bait grinned. "Okay mister."

Sonic glowered at him for all of three seconds before giving up the unequal struggle and grinning back, shaking his head.

"I guess I walked into that one. C'mon, let's go back before Mighty sends Charmy out with a spotlight."

"Okay...Sonic."

**Ha! So it wasn't Scarface's footsteps! Fooled you all :D Probably disappointed most of you too but hey, that's life ;) One more chapter to go...then it's on to the sequel :P Also, if anybody's interested, the first chapter of _Rising Star_ (my story version of _Sonic 2_) was uploaded at the same time as this :)**


	18. Promises Made

**CHT.BI: Heh, thanks ;) I like twisting things when I write :P**

**XTailsX: Yep, sequel ;) One that's going to be almost pure Knuckles and Tails :P**

**PyroHedgehog4Ever: (blushes) Thanks :) And yep, there'll be a sequel's sequel, and probably a sequel's sequel's sequel and a sequel's sequel's sequel's seq—ah, you get the idea :P**

**Kj: Heh. That's a very interesting take; I hadn't thought about it like that. There will be some Sonic and Tails in the sequel, but it's largely (certainly at the beginning) going to be Knuckles and Tails...sort of like starting off with Knux and going onto Sonic towards the end...or there might be one chapter Knuckles, one chapter Sonic and so on...Tails and Sonic will team up towards the end of the sequel though, and that's a promise ;)**

**FriedBrickWall: Yeah...Tails can't be in every single chapter, at least not of this one ;) (_Knuckles: Blackmail? And there I was thinking this person was starting to like me._) And thanks; I'm glad you liked it :D**

**Moonpaw7: Thanks :D Love the name, btw ;)**

**Toboe16: Thanks ;) And yes, the void plays a larger part in the sequel**

**Matri90: Thanks :) Like I said in the last chapter, yes, there will be a sequel ;)**

**Parslie: Heh...well, if so, then you're one of the few who did :P**

_Guardian's Log no. 11484_

_Well. I'll be interested to see how Sonic handles that development; something tells me Bait isn't going to be swayed by a grin and a wink. Sonic must love making life difficult for himself._

_I'm almost sorry I had to leave those two though. I'd like to have seen how it turned out. Granted Sonic will probably tell me, but that's not the same._

_--Knuckles the Echidna_

_My Memoirs by Me_

_I now have a very bruised hand. Bottom line, Bait thought he was viewed as the lesser of two evils and left. He and I had a talk – well, I say talk, it was more him screaming at me and my inserting the odd word whenever he paused for breath – and I think we got over the problem. Bait pretty much cried his heart out on my chest and ribs (which startled the hell out of me) and refused to let go of my hand, which is why this writing is a little wonky; he's currently asleep but he still has my hand in a death grip and I don't have the heart to take it back. _

_I get the feeling that underneath all his bravado and tough-guy talk, Bait's one frightened and seriously insecure little jackal cub. Poor little guy. I don't know what it is about Emerald Hill Zone; it looks beautiful, but a lot of the people there make my skin crawl. I thought that when I was there the first time and met Tails, and I still think it now._

_I'm not bothered about Tails going with Knux anymore. That sounds callous, I know, but it's true; I think Bait needs me more than Tails does right now._

_Why is that whenever I go to Emerald Hill Zone, I wind up with a kid?_

_--Sonic the Hedgehog_

_Dear Diary_

_I hope we go soon. Now Scarface knows where I am – and he must do else why would he have come – I'm not gonna feel safe til I'm back on Angel Island with Knux._

_--Tails_

_Bait's Jurnal_

_So I sed the last entry was gonna be the last one but so wat? I was rong about Sonic and Im glad. I didnt wanna be alone, not agen._

_--Bait the Jakkel_

Tails was awake and shivering when Knuckles got back, standing in front of the window the echidna had left through and staring into the darkness.

"Haven't you any more sense than to stand in a draft at this time of night?" Knuckles demanded. Tails jumped and spun round, looking guilty.

"You're back!"

"Yeah, I'm back, and I thought I told you to go to sleep."

"I did but then I woke up and you weren't there." Tails came to stand in front of the echidna, looking up at him with large eyes. "Where'd you go to, Knux?"

"Bait went missing. I had to go help Sonic look."

The fox stared hard at him. "Since _when_ do you do what Sonic tells you?"

"He didn't tell me to do anything! If you must know, he practically blackmailed me into it!"

"He _did_?" Tails' eyes grew, if it was possible, even larger. "Wow. What'd you do that was so bad?"

Knuckles opened his mouth, shut it again and then said, "Never you mind."

"Aw, c'mon Knux. I won't tell anyone. Promise."

"Damn right you won't tell anyone because you're not going to know. Now either go back to bed or get back in your beanbag, I don't care which."

Tails put one hand on his hip. "I'm not going anywhere 'til you _promise_ not to abandon me again, Knux!"

"What are you talking about, again? I've never abandoned you."

"You did so! When I woke up and you weren't there—"

"Tails, I've told you before; much as I like you, I do have more important things to do than sit and listen to you snore."

The fox glared at him. "I don't snore, Knucklehead, _you_ do!"

"I'm not getting into this debate now," Knuckles informed him; despite being told the same thing by Sonic, Mighty and every member of the CDA on numerous occasions, like most people he still remained convinced that he was a silent sleeper. "You can sleep in your bed or your beanbag. I'll give you three seconds to decide."

"Beanbag. But...uh...don't you, uh, don't you wanna change my bandages first?"

The echidna rolled his eyes. "Just what have you got against sleeping, anyway?"

"Nothing!" Tails said too quickly, then squirmed. "Well...I...uh...I get bad dreams, Knux."

"Everyone gets bad dreams, kid."

"I know. But...don't you wanna change the bandages anyway? Jus' in case?"

Knuckles sighed. He was tired – and like most tired people, he was also pretty irritable – and he thought he had the beginnings of a dull headache starting behind his eyes.

"Fine," he said ungraciously. "Get into your room and I'll see what I can do."

"My room?"

"Yeah. I can't do much to them when you're buried in a beanbag." Knuckles folded his arms. "Or you could go back to your beloved beanbag and _sleep_."

Tails shook his head stubbornly. "Nuh uh! I'll go for the bandages, Knux, thanks."

Knuckles sighed again. "Alright. Go lie down and I'll be there in a minute."

In fact it was considerably more than a minute when the echidna finally showed up to find Tails still awake by the simple method of holding his eyelids up with his good hand. Knuckles groaned inwardly. That had been his last hope, that if he spent long enough away, Tails would have fallen asleep again.

"Kid, your body needs rest."

"It needs bandages more," Tails mumbled, but Knuckles was already propping him up and unwinding the wrappings. The injuries underneath were starting to heal, but the echidna thought that Tails would be in for any amount of back trouble when he got older; some of the lacerations had sliced right through the muscle.

"You'll never lose the scars," Knuckles said quietly. Tails shivered.

"I don't care. I'm away from that place, Knux. That's worth any amount of scars, right?"

"You bet it is. You're lucky; your fur'll hide most of 'em except the one on your ear, and that's not too bad; it'll fade in time."

"That's okay. I like a coupla scars anyway. Drives the girls wild."

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Don't start with that, Tails! No amount of female idolisation is worth mauling yourself for!"

Tails abruptly lost his cool poise and shivered. "Yeah. I know." He paused. "Knux?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it true? About scars driving girls wild?"

The echidna closed his eyes. This was just like the little chat they'd had about the facts of life all over again.

"I don't know. If you find a girl, ask her." He opened his eyes again and studied Tails thoughtfully. "Though I'd wait a while. Your fur's still mostly dyed with your own blood. That'll take a lot of washing out. I can see you spending most of your time up at the hot springs."

"I don't wanna stink of rotten eggs, Knux!"

"Would you rather stink of blood and infection?"

"If that smell didn't make me wanna puke, then sure!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Trust me, it would. And if the smell didn't, the sight would. You ever seen someone rotting away, kid? Not a pretty sight." He finished the dressing, slid the tray onto a chair and stood. "Alright. You got your bandages, now go to sleep." _So I can do the same thing_, he added in the privacy of his own mind. It really had been a very long night.

Tails yawned widely. "C'n I get 'nother story, Knux?"

"No."

"You promised...if I didn't tell Sonic you promised you'd..."

"Sonic already knows; he overheard the whole thing," Knuckles said, then relented. "I guess a promise is a promise though, so okay. But not until tomorrow, and not at all if you don't get some shuteye."

Tails started to protest, then thought of something better. He'd been meaning to tell Knuckles about this for a while now, and there was no time like the present.

"Can I tell you something?"

"If you shut your eyes and get some rest straight afterwards, then sure."

Tails nodded. "Okay. Knux, you're never gonna believe this in a million years, but there's an echidna down in the tunnels."

Knuckles stared at him. "_What_?"

"Jus' thought you'd wanna know...night." Tails closed his eyes and Knuckles growled in frustration.

"Don't play this game with me now, kid! There's a _what_ down in the tunnels?"

Tails opened his eyes and looked at Knuckles. "An echidna. Like you, only he doesn't have that crescent thing you got. He's got a kind of bib type mark though."

The echidna continued staring. "Tails, if this is some kind of joke, it's—"

"It's true, I swear," Tails interrupted. "I thought you were the last one."

"I am! I mean...I thought I was..."

"He's kinda cute, actually. Big eyes, big fists, big feet and these really small little spines and climbing spikes starting to grow, and this tiny little tail and..." Tails caught sight of the stricken expression on Knuckles' face and glanced away. "Sorry Knux."

The echidna was thinking rapidly, trying to work out what this latest development meant.

"How big is he?" he said suddenly.

"About so big." Tails held one hand up somewhere around waist height. "I don't think he's very old."

He couldn't be at that size, Knuckles thought, not quite randomly. Four, maybe five...or seven or eight, if you took into account the likely stunted growth and malnutrition, he amended.

"He's...well, he's not red like you, he's more crimson like you were when we first met you."

"That's a maturity thing," Knuckles said without thinking. "It's not unusual for echidnas to darken as they get older. Tails...are you sure?"

"Oh yeah. It's easy to be sure about echidnas, 'cause there's not much else he could be. At least, I think it's a he. How do you tell the difference, Knux?"

"Shut up and let me think. No, scratch that, first tell me when and where you saw him. Then shut up and let me think."

"He was in one of the minor tunnels, Knux, near to where you found me. I heard a couple of overseers talking and they said his mother gave him to them willingly with his sister, on'y she died a week in. Knux, I thought echidnas hated slavery."

"We do." Knuckles' mouth was working on automatic and his brain on overtime, trying to make some sense of this. "How did you...when did you find this out?"

"After they put me into that tunnel. I saw him going past with a tray. He must've bugged the overseers big time or they'd never've given him feeding duty, huh Knux?"

"What? Yeah, sure kid, whatever you say," Knuckles said, not really paying attention. His mind was fixed on that damn iguana. Had the lizard known and assumed that he was looking for the other echidna? He supposed it wasn't an unreasonable assumption, under the circumstances, but still...if he'd only thought to ask!

Well, he still could. The iguana had been awake in the TV room; Knuckles had seen him when Sonic had got back with Bait...and the echidna still wasn't sure whether he was glad or sorry that those two had made it up.

He glanced at Tails.

"I'm going down to the TV room."

"You are?" Tails started to sit upright. "Wait up, Knux, I'll come—"

"You'll do no such thing." Knuckles reached out and caught hold of Tails' shoulders. "You stay put. It's been all I can do to get you into bed; I'm not letting you wriggle out that easily. I gotta get the medical stuff back anyway."

Lifting the tray, he strode out of the room, then reappeared just long enough to say, "And go to _sleep_!" then turned and walked down the corridor to the TV room.

Sonic was kneeling next to a sleeping Bait and just debating with himself whether the jackal's peace of mind was worth the pain in both the hedgehog's knees and the increasing numbness in one hand when Knuckles crashed the door open, tossed the tray he was carrying to one side and folded his arms across his chest, staring hard at the iguana.

"Who did you think I'd come to find?" he demanded by way of greeting. The iguana shrugged.

"The other echidna, of course. Who else would an echidna come down to find?"

"There's another echidna?" Sonic looked up from his position at Bait's side; despite having fallen asleep, the jackal was still refusing to let go of Sonic's hand. "Wow. So much for your _I'm the only one_ claim, Knux."

"What?" Jerked awake by Knuckles' abrupt entrance, Bait sat up. "Whassappnin'?"

"Nothing," Sonic told him. "Knucklehead's just having a midlife crisis. How'd you find out, Knux?"

"Tails told me. Just like that. Decided to spring it on me." Knuckles started to pace rapidly, then whirled to glare at Bait. "Did you know about any of this?"

"Wha?" Alarmed, Bait started to struggle to his feet, but Sonic caught hold of him.

"Don't listen to Knuckles; he's taking the piss."

"I'm damn well not, Sonic. Did you know, kid?"

"Know _what_, mister?" Bait said groggily.

Sonic hushed him, then stared hard at the echidna. "Knuckles, how much longer are you gonna keep persecuting this poor cub?"

"Poor cub?" Knuckles echoed. "Sonic, narrow brushes with death involving Bait notwithstanding, that poor cub is behind all this crap!"

"I thought we'd been through all this. Bait's not responsible; Raker is."

"Yeah? So why didn't the kid just refuse to do what he was told?"

"Could _you_ say no to someone like Raker? Not everyone can punch through walls like you can. And on the subject of Raker, has anyone heard from him?"

"Not a thing," Knuckles said flatly. "Oh, I believe Bait's not out to betray us or Tails now, but as far as I'm concerned, that doesn't change what he did before. And it doesn't answer my question."

"Yeah, but mister, what _is_ your question?" Bait wanted to know. If he was upset by Knuckles' caustic remarks, he gave no sign. "'Cause you been yellin' an' sayin' things like did I know but you still haven't tole me what it is I'm s'posed to know or not know."

"I think what Knucklehead's trying to say," Sonic cut in before Knuckles could open his mouth, "is, you remember what you did to Tails?" When Bait winced and nodded he went on. "Did you do it to anyone else?"

The jackal flattened his ears. "Well...yeah, mist—"

"Ah?"

"—Sonic! Yeah, I meant Sonic. An'...yeah, we did do it to other kids."

"Ever do it to an echidna? Or have you ever seen any other echidna besides Knuckles here?"

Bait shook his head vigorously. "Nuh uh. I dint know there was such things as echidnas before I met your buddy, mist—Sonic. Look, if I done anythin' wrong—"

"You haven't done a thing, Bait," Sonic told him calmly. "Knuckles usually gets irritable like this whenever he tries to think. His brain gets overheated; it's not used to such vigorous exercise."

"Screw you, hedgehog."

"Not a chance." Sonic settled Bait comfortably in the crook of one arm and then became serious again. "I'm guessing it was a puggle, Knux."

"A what?" Bait said.

"Baby echidna," Sonic translated.

The jackal grinned. "They're called _puggles_? Aw, mister, that's so—"

"If you so much as think the word _cute_ I will slam dunk you into the ceiling," Knuckles said through clenched teeth. "And yeah, it was. At least, judging from Tails' description. You sure you didn't have anything to do with it, kid?"

"I won't tell you again, Knuckles; leave him alone." There was a warning note in Sonic's voice. "Raker's gang can't have sold all the slaves down there."

"Why not?"

"Because the kind of money involved would see them all lounging about on silk and velvet cushions stuffed with peacock feathers," Sonic answered simply. "Even Bait."

Bait ducked his head. "Nah, Raker'd jus' make me into one a them cushions."

"You get the point though," Sonic said to Knuckles. "And what about the other echidnas?"

"What?" Knuckles skidded to a stop and stared at Sonic. "What other echidnas?"

"Knuckles, how old are you?" Sonic said very patiently.

"What? Sixteen. Seventeen, almost. What's it matter?"

"It matters," Sonic answered, still keeping his voice incredibly patient and reasonable, "because if there is a _younger_ echidna down there, then that echidna's parents are likely to be around. And where they are, there might be others. If he was born after you and after your parents died, doesn't that mean that there must be more echidnas out there? Ones who _don't_ live on Angel Island?"

Knuckles opened his mouth, shut it again with a snap as this hit home for the first time, then opened it again to say, "We have to get him out."

Sonic snorted. "Get _real_. There are probably over a hundred overseers down there. Even if we sorted out Scarface, we'd still have to deal with all them others."

There was a pause as Knuckles slowly turned to stare at Sonic, who flushed.

"Uh...I meant _those_ others."

"You have been hanging around with Bait for far too long, Sonic."

Sonic could see Bait interpreting that as his own eviction notice and cut in, "Yeah, and I've learned something new every day of that time." Granted that the things he was referring to hadn't been things he'd particularly wanted to know – to wit, Bait's stealing and Raker's treatment of him – but that wasn't the point. "And besides," he added, "you can't abandon Tails."

"Sonic, you don't get it! There are still kids down there, kids who—"

"—never really mattered to you until you found out that there might be echidnas as well," Sonic cut across sharply.

"I'm going after them."

Sonic surged to his feet, spilling Bait sideways into the beanbag. "You're damn well not, Knucklehead, and if you want to get clobbered by me again, just you try it! You said you were willing to look after Tails, fine. I won't stand in the way or bug the kid about that, but I won't let you wander off and leave him. He needs you."

"And what about what _I_ need?" Knuckles demanded. Sonic snorted.

"What about it? Jeez, Knux, I thought even you'd figured this one out; you're looking after someone, you fix their needs first and your own second."

Knuckles glanced away, mind whirling.

"Look at it this way," Sonic added, "you'd have more chance of getting in and out in one piece if there's two of you—"

"Are you saying I can't do it?"

"I'm _saying_ it'd be quicker and easier with two." Sonic eyed Knuckles keenly, although there was a slight glimmer of humour in his eyes. "C'mon Knux, you claimed Tails as your kid brother. Prove it. Be completely selfless for once; it'd do you good. If they haven't killed that mystery puggle by now, they're not likely to."

Knuckles didn't answer but Sonic sensed that the danger was past.

"Even if he doesn't come – and frankly, Knux, I wouldn't blame him if he never wanted to go within fifty miles of either this or Emerald Hill Zone again – he could probably tell you about the layout."

Knuckles considered this. He supposed it seemed reasonable enough, although that didn't mean he had to _like_ it. Still, perhaps he could—

"Promise me you won't go back until Tails is fully recovered," Sonic said sharply, obviously following the echidna's train of thought.

"What?"

"You heard. Promise me, Knux!"

The echidna glared at Sonic, who returned the stare steadily, then he gave in.

"Alright! Fine! I promise that I'll come back only when the kid's back to his old self again, or as close as he can get. Happy?" Without waiting for an answer, he whirled and stalked out, slamming the door behind him, not stopping until he reached the window in his and Tails' room. Looking out into the bright lights, he saw that the building housing Sekko's Salves was ominously dark. Briefly he wondered if Amy had found another job yet.

In the bed, Tails stirred suddenly and Knuckles glanced at him. Sonic was right; sort the kid out first. _Then_ bring that place to its knees.

A slight smile touched the echidna's mouth as he looked back out the window. Destroy the mines, free the slaves and find that damn echidna Tails was talking about!

"Knux?" Tails opened bleary eyes. "Knux, are we going home yet?"

The echidna shot him a look. "Yeah. We'll go just as soon as you're ready." He returned his attention to the window, feeling strangely light. Maybe they _were_ going, but they'd be back, or at least he would.

After all, he had a promise to keep.

**Okay, so it's finished :) It does leave a lot of loose ends, but most of 'em will be tied up in the sequel _Sins of the Mothers_, which was posted at the same time as this one. Thanks so much for reading and if you read this final chapter and note, please leave a review :)...and thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far :)**

**Kj: Yep, it's another echidna ;) And thanks, glad you liked it**

**XTailsX: (blushes) Wow, such praise...thanks (big happy smile)**

**Awdures:) Thanks. It's something I'm having a lot of fun with :P**

**Pyro Hedgehog4Ever: I hope so. So far I'm not sure what the sequel to the sequel's gonna be about, but I tend to start writing sequels to stories before the stories themselves are halfway through, so something'll turn up (although this particular story got some very dramatic rewriting at the beginning :P) Uh. Does that make any sense?**

**Moonpaw7: Heh, really:D I'd never have guessed. And thanks :)**

**Matri90: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it ;)**

**SaffraEchidna: Thanks :D (_Tails: Hey, I had a lot on my mind, okay?_)**

**Parslie: Thanks :)**

**Asher Tye: Heh, no worries :D Thanks...and yes, there shall be plenty of crushing (possibly in the sequel's sequel ;))**


End file.
